Because I Love You
by writergirl8
Summary: When the sixth years are forced to take a potion that causes them to dream about what would happen if their deepest regrets had gone a different way, Ron and Hermione are thrown into a universe in which they are a couple.
1. Chapter 1

The corridors were lonely this time of day. The setting afternoon sun peaked in through the windows, putting the stones and those who passed through in sharp relief. Occasionally, a ghost would float through the wall, but then he or she would see how bright the sun was and hurry away as if it physically hurt them to be somewhere so bright. Every now and then, a teacher would walk briskly by, muttering something about Peeves, and Ron cursed himself for being missing in action for the poltergeist's latest prank. But he had to do this. He couldn't just sit back and watch everything Hermione had done for him slip away. He stared at the tiny red T on his paper, swallowing hard. After all the times Hermione had done his homework for him, this was how he thanked her? By throwing away his grades for Lavender Brown? It was _her _fault, after all. They'd been snogging in the common room when Ron had remembered he had a paper due the next day that he hadn't done. Rather then letting him go, Lavender had insisted that he keep on snogging her. She only let him go when _she _felt like going to bed, and Ron had been forced to stay up all hours doing his homework. Now that he reread it, he realized that there were several mistakes. And apparently, Slughorn had noticed, too.

Not for the first time, Ron wished he was still friends with Hermione. She easily would have caught the mistakes he made, and then his paper would be brought up to an E. He'd been getting Es and As all throughout his school career. And now he knew why. It was all because of Hermione. She'd helped him more then he'd _ever_ thought. Merlin, how he missed the days when he could get her to talk to him just by saying 'spew' instead of 'S.P.E.W'. To this day, he still didn't exactly know what that stood for. Maybe 'Seriously Pathetic Enamored Weasleys'. That would make sense.

He missed _everything _about her. He missed her doing his homework. He missed her talking to him as they did prefect duties, because those had become thoroughly awkward since they had started fighting. Or, really, not fighting. That was another thing he missed. He didn't have anyone to bicker with now! A few weeks ago, he had the excuse to stare at her while she got all angry at him. Now, he didn't have any excuse at all to stare at her at all. With the added non-bonus of the fact that Lavender mentally killed him every time he so much as glanced in Hermione's direction. And Lavender wasn't as hot as Hermione when she got mad. When Lavender got mad, she'd yell with her face screwed up in anger. When Hermione yelled, she'd get all passionate about it. Her hair would fly out of its ponytail or bun, her eyes would blaze and smolder, and her hands would fly around as she tried to explain why Ron was totally and completely wrong in whatever he did.

It was unbelievably sexy.

A month ago, if you had asked Ron to choose between snogging some Gryffindor girl that he didn't particularly have any chemistry with, or having a little bicker-fight with Hermione, Ron would have immediately picked the former option, not the latter. But now, he'd jump at the chance to have option B. Ron had always considered himself a person who had a reasonable appreciation for snogging. He'd always wanted to have his share of it, and that was one of the reasons why he'd started snogging Lavender. Albeit, a small one. But now he was getting bloody sick of it. It had absolutely lost its fun. His current girlfriend wanted to snog him every second of the day, and he knew absolutely nothing about her. He didn't even think he knew her middle name. Either that, or she'd told him and he hadn't been listening. But why listen when he didn't _care_? He didn't care about Lavender Brown, he cared about Hermione. And that was that.

He'd reached his destination. Ron cleared his throat and knocked before peaking his head into the room.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for-"

But he stopped short. None of the teachers had noticed that he'd poked his head into the room. Instead, they were all turned towards Professor Trelawny. Ron raised his eyebrows. What was she doing down here? She never came out of her tower. Apparently Sprout was wondering the same thing.

"Cybil, what are you doing down are? You never come out of your tower."

Trelawny coughed and drew her scarf tighter around herself.

"Yes. Well, my inner eye has told me that my paycheck is down here, and I am most eager to retrieve it. I need to buy some more... things. Usually, a House Elf brings it up to me, but it can take some time, and I am afraid my sherr... _sharing _can not wait."

The other teachers stared at her in a bit of a shock for a few moments before Professor Slughorn broke the tension.

"So, how about that Granger," he said, beaming around at all the teachers. "I haven't given her any less then an _outstanding_ on a paper all year!"

Ron mentally promised that he'd repeat all of this conversation to Hermione before remembering that they weren't talking.

"Lately, she's seemed rather distracted, though," said the woman who taught Ancient Ruins.

"Mmmm," said McGonagall. "Well, you know why, don't you?"

The other teachers nodded. Slughorn didn't.

"No, _I_ have no idea. Why?"

McGonagall drew herself up and permitted herself a smile. She seemed to enjoy being the center of attention.

"Ron Weasley."

"No!" Slughorn drew back, looking surprised. "He's... well... so sub par. She could do ten times... I thought for sure she and Harry...?"

Ron's blush turned into anger. He stuck his middle finger up where Sluggy couldn't see it.

"Not at all," said Sprout, now enjoying the conversation. "It's always been those two. They've been so amusing to watch over the years."

"But he's dating Miss Brown," Flitwick squeaked. "So Hermione's been terribly upset. It hasn't effected her work at all," he added fondly.

"No, it hasn't." the other teachers agreed. Silence. Then,

"When do you think they'll get together, Minerva?"

"Oh, I don't know," McGonagall said with the air of someone who didn't want to seem like they were too interested in the conversation.

"I think by the end of this year," Sprout said.

"Oh, I agree." several teachers said.

"I'd bet on them being together by last year," Flitwick said bitterly. "Lost five sickles."

"It's alright, Filius," McGonagall said bracingly. "We all lost a lot of money betting on them for the yule ball."

"Stupid Viktor Krum," Sprout muttered, and Ron felt a growing fondness for the woman.

"Stupid _Weasley_, I'd say," Flitwick said. "He wasn't man enough to ask her."

Ouch.

"Their lives would have been different if he had." McGonagall agreed.

"Oh, please!" Trelawny burst out. "I have known their fate for some time now. They were _never _destined to get together at the yule ball. And if _any _of you had come to me during that time, you would have lost a lot less money."

"Alright then, Cybil," McGonagall said briskly. "If you know _so _much about the story of Weasley and Granger, please, by all means."

Trelawny looked caught between a rock and a hard place. Her eyes swiveled back and forth through the crowd of expectant teachers. Finally, she nervously cleared her throat.

"All right. There's going to be a big battle at this castle in the future. We will all be apart of it, including students. Especially Weasely and Granger. They'll fight hard, try hard. And then someone will aim a curse at Weasley. Granger will leap in front of it and take the curse from him. She shall slowly sink to the floor, and Weasley will run after her. The whole battle will seize to watch him weep, and her hand will slowly find his cheek as she says 'I've always loved you'. He will confess that he has always loved her, and then she will die in his arms."

Ron gulped. How could that...? No...Hermione! He knew Trelawny predicted total crap, but it was still frightening to think of her dying in his arms in the heat of a battle with everyone watching as he cried over her.

"Weasley will avenge her death by killing the person who killed _her, _but at a terrible price. He will be forced to chose between avenging Hermione and saving Harry. Potter shall die, and Weasley will spend the rest of his life in a drunken stupor until he kills himself so that he can join his one true love at last."

Ron and the professors stared at Trelwany long and hard, their mouths all open. Only McGonagall seemed unruffled.

"Nonsense," she said, standing up and directing her wand into a teapot. They all heard a jet of water come out of her wand and into the kettle.

Trelwney drew herself up.

"Alright, Minerva. If you're so smart, if you know so much about the inner eye, why don't you tell us how Weasley and Granger are going to get together?"

It was a battle of the professors. McGonagall, a known hater of divination, drew herself up to her fullest height and said,

"At this same battle you claim Miss Granger will meet her end, I say she and Weasley will share their first kiss. It'll be in the heat of the moment, and they'll both be thoroughly embarrassed about it later, but never regret it, and that kiss will be what leads them to being together forever."

Several female teachers clapped, and McGonagall looked quite proud of herself.

"What do you say to a bet?" Slughorn asked around. "I bet they'll be together by the end of this year!"

"I'll go in," Flitwick said. "I'm betting on Minerva's scenario."

This was too much for Ron. He slowly backed out of the room, his head buzzing. He felt a little sick. Who would ever suspect that the teachers at Hogwarts were such gossips? He never would have. His grades seemed so unimportant in relation to what he had just heard. All these years, the teachers had been watching them and betting on him. And they didn't think he was man enough! It was ridiculous. He was a man! Had they not seen him snogging Lavender? He wasn't exactly hiding it, they did kiss in the great hall. Then again, Ron realized, maybe that was what was making him not a man. Instead of confronting Hermione about feelings he'd known he had for two years, Ron had just started a meaningless relationship with someone else. It was a babyish ploy to make her jealous, obviously. And he suddenly felt like more of an arse then he had ten minutes ago.

OOO

The sound of bubbling potions greeted Ron as he made his way down the stone steps. He was late. Again. And it was all Slughorn's fault. For the past week, Ron had been hating his classes. Potions especially. He'd been late to most the his lessons because he'd start thinking about what all the teachers had said. Their words and phrases kept flitting through his mind. McGonagall's scenario, Trelawney's scenario, and everything about him not being man enough to confront Hermione. He hated potions the most because he knew that Slughorn had thought Harry and Hermione were meant for each other. Every potions class, he'd brood over the words about Hermione being too good for him. Ron had already thought these things himself, but to hear it all coming out of someone else's mouth was worse then when it entered his own thoughts. _She's too smart for you, she's too mature for you, she's too pretty for you_... and still, Ron always held hope that Hermione would defy the odds and still consider him, instead of just defaulting to Harry. Maybe she could look past all the reasons she shouldn't be with him and concentrate on the reasons why she should. There were plenty of those, right? Like... Oh, god. He couldn't even think of reasons why the girl he was falling in love with should be with him. How pathetic. He was most certainly a Seriously Pathetic Enamored Weasley. Sighing, Ron pushed the door to the potions classroom open. Everyone looked up as he walked in.

"Ah, Weasley. Come in!" Slughorn said jubilantly. Harry and Hermione both raised their eyebrows. They couldn't understand Slughorn's sudden ability to remember what Ron's last name was. Ron, however, _did _know. And it did not improve his mood. In fact, as he took his place beside Harry, he decided that it made him even grumpier. He sat there, fuming silently, as he went over Slughorn's words in his mind. _He's... well... so sub par. She could do ten times... I thought for sure she and Harry...?_ He could feel Harry staring at him, trying to figure out what was wrong, but Ron simply shook his head and went on daydreaming until he felt a sharp jab on his shoulder some time later. Everyone in the class was staring at him. Ron swallowed and turned to Slughorn, who was looking at him expectantly.

"Come again?" Ron said, lost.

"I said," Slughorn told him pointedly, "Go. Work. With. Granger. I've paired you all off, see."

Ron swallowed again and turned towards Hermione. She was glaring at the wall ahead, not moving at all. As Ron moved to the stool next to her, he noticed that it looked like she wasn't breathing. He considered waving his hand in front of her face to check, but ultimately decided that, if she was, in fact, alive, it would be in his best interest not to do anything to provoke her. The mystery was solved, anyways, when Slughorn told the class that they could begin, and Hermione made a dive forward for the student store cupboard. She came back as fast as she could and started speedily working on the potion.

"So- er- what are we doing?" Ron asked in a falsely cheery voice, rubbing his hands together to show enthusiasm. Hermione, in return, grabbed her copy of _Advanced Potion Making_, threw it in front of Ron, and jabbed the page with her wand. It lit on fire, and Ron was forced to put it out with the water charm they'd just learned in charm's class. Then he glanced down at the page. The potion was called... well... something he couldn't pronounce, and it had many difficult and complicated steps. Ron, without thinking, mumbled something about not understanding. Hermione looking up, probably to yell at him, but Slughorn sidled over to them almost immediately.

"Weasley, have you ever wished you could turn back time? Wished that you could have done something differently or something could have simply happened differently? And then you would be able to see the outcome change?"

With a side glance at Hermione (who was blushing furiously, Ron thought, but it may just have been the fire from the potion), Ron nodded.

"This potion will enable you to relive that time you most desperately wish could have gone different, and see what would have happened," Slughorn said, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "It makes most men go mad, but it betters some, too. This is as much a test of character as it is a trial in potions class." He checked his watch. "Now, chop chop! If you start now, you can finish by the end of the double block and start tonight."

This didn't seem like it would be too much of a problem, since Hermione was already working feverishly. Her hair was puffing up in the fumes, and Ron resisted the urge to lift his hand up and tuck it behind her ear. Still and all, he was staring at her fervently, and after a while Hermione turned to him with raised eyebrows.

"What?"

Ron quickly turned back to his- _her_- book.

"Nothing," he said hurriedly. "So- er- what do you want me to do?"

He smiled tentatively at her. She did not return the grin. His vanished almost immediately.

"Just..." Hermione looked around the desk. "Chop these."

Ron obediently took the nut-like shapes she offered him and started cutting. Hermione seemed slightly surprised that he was obeying her orders so well, but accepted it without comment. They worked in silence for several minutes, with Ron chewing the inside of his cheek every time he had the urge to talk, stare at Hermione, or push a piece of her hair back in place. Finally, he decided to test the waters. He cleared his throat and made a stupid, offhand comment about the weather. Hermione said nothing in return. Ron groaned inwardly, cursing himself for ever going anywhere near Lavender. He so desperately wanted to tell Hermione that, while it had been fun at first, he would rather be her best friend then anyone else's boyfriend.

Although, judging on what the teachers had said about Hermione's feelings towards him, he could possibly, _possibly_ be getting both. Then again, they hadn't been too encouraging about it. And they'd blamed everything that had ever gone wrong in his and Hermione's relationship on_him_. Ron felt that, yes, Hermione was too good for him, and, yes, he'd made the majority of the mistakes in their strange little relationship, but no, he was not entirely to blame for how strained their situation was. For example, a few minutes ago, they'd both reached for the mandrake root at the same time and their hands had bumped. Five years ago, this would have gone totally unnoticed by Ron and Hermione. By the end of third year, they would have noticed, but not really reacted except for a little broadening of their grins. Now, however, they weren't exactly used to being around each other anymore. Hermione blushed, Ron's ears turned red, and the brunet instantly jerked her hand away. Ron took the root and proceeded to pound it while repressing a large grin that was threatening to stretch across his face.

By the time the class finished, Ron and Hermione had concocted themselves a lovely little potion, purple in color with hints of orange and blue.

"Hey, it looks like the color of the dress robes you wore to the yule ball," Ron observed unthinkingly, pointing to the periwinkle blue in the potion. Hermione, who was already surprised at the discipline and knowledge Ron had displayed while working on the potion, let her moth pop open in surprise. Ron wanted to ask her if she had really thought he wouldn't remember after all that had transpired that night, but he didn't. What was he supposed to say, anyways?_Yes, I remember, Hermione, because that was the night I realized that I had feelings for you_. That would never happen. She'd laugh in his face and then tell him that she was with Harry, and how had he not noticed that before? Was he really that thick? Just the thought made Ron bang his head against the table. Noticing, Slughorn came over. He carefully inspected the colors of their potion before looking up to question them. He first asked them why the potion was purple. Hermione's hand instantly shot up, hitting Ron on the cheek. Her eyes widened, and she lightly placed her hand on the spot she'd hit.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Hermione asked in a high voice, meeting his eyes for the first time in a month. Ron's blue eyes stared doe like back at her as he silently savored her touch. "Ron?" Hermione questioned, her tone pleading now.

"Er- right. Yeah, I'm fine." he said quietly.

"Okay," Hermione replied, and, blushing, she removed her hand from his cheek. Slughorn chuckled.

"Miss Granger, you needn't raise your hand in a group of two. Mr. Weasley isn't likely to answer a question anyways."

"Yes, right," Hermione said, and she cleared her throat before saying, "The potion will turn whatever color the lock of hair placed in is. In the event that multiple pieces of hair are put in, the potion will turn the color of all those pieces mixed together. This is why the potion is usually brown, but Ron and my hair put together is actually quite a nice color, so our potion is a pretty purple."

Slughorn, seemingly impressed, awarded her several points, and Hermione, looking proud of herself, sat back.

"What type of a person must put a lock of hair into the potion?" Slughorn questioned.

"Only those who wish to take the potion without poisoning themselves put the lock of hair in," Hermione recited.

"Quite right," said Slughorn happily. "Which is why you and Mr. Weasley would do well to label this cauldron, lest you drink someone else's and be poisoned by it. Although-" he looked around the class, "I don't think anyone else has a potion quite this color. Nonetheless... so, Miss Granger, what are the randomly placed colors in the potion?"

Hermione squinted at the colors.

"They have to do with-"

"-The image we'll be seeing when we fall asleep after taking the potion," Ron finished as the answer dawned on him. Hermione was so unsettled and surprised at the fact he'd answered a question, she didn't reprimand him for interrupting her.

"Very nice, Weasley," Slughorn said appreciatively. "Twelve points."

Now Hermione frowned. That was two more then Slughorn's highest praise for her. Slughorn, still beaming, handed both her and Ron a small black composition notebook.

"Here is your dream diary. All sixth years will be getting one. You'll take the potion every night and write down your dream in here. You must write down everything you dream, even if you don't want me knowing about it."

"Well- will you be reading them?" Ron asked.

"Oh, yes." Slughorn told him.

"That's really private!" Hermione burst out. "Dreams are the one thing we can't... control."

"I understand that, but... well, I put a dream tracking spell on you while you were working. So if you lie, I'll know."

Hermione and Ron stared at him.

"Don't worry, it's not illegal!" Slughorn said cheerfully in response to their silence. "Anyways- just to warn you- your dreams should have continuity. It'll be like a story that continues every night, and you must take it every night, or else your grade will lower. And, once again, I shall know. By the way, the dreams will continue to have the _same_ storyline, if you will, as long as you take the potion. And, unless something happens that either you regret _more_ or you get closure on the subject your dream is about, you might keep taking the same continuous track forever."

"So, theoretically, if we chose to make the potion in fifty years, we could have our dream right where it left off?"

"Right. But people usually don't choose to make the potion again. I mean, sometimes, the dreams are good, sometimes they're bad. We never know why things happen until we see what could've been. It can really drive a man crazy." Slughorn checked his watch. "Time to go! Your glasses will be next to your beds when you go up to sleep. Good luck! Have fun! Write it down!"

As if they had a bloody choice. 


	2. Chapter 2

The sixth years left their potions lesson feeling slightly apprehensive of the evening to come. They were mostly silent through dinner, wondering what they would be seeing. Ron knew what Harry would be seeing, and Harry knew it, too. A world without Voldemort, where Harry had parents and there was absolutely no prophecy, because there didn't need to be. And while Ron was almost certain of what he, himself, would be seeing, he was still worried about it. A part of him wanted to see it. The other part was dreading it even more then he'd dreaded Christmas when Auntie Murial still came round for it. Around the table, the girls shared what they thought they'd be dreaming about. Every boy was silent, eating his food steadily with his head in the clouds. Hermione was, of course, in the library. The Gryffindors peeled away from the table little by little, walking up the stairs as if they were going to their own funeral. No one felt very much like a Gryffindor, and everyone was frightened. This was different. This was big. This was facing your deepest regret. This was seeing what could have been and what could never be. Ron knew that the first night was worst, but after a bit it got better. That was what Slughorn had said, at least. He'd also said that the worst part was really realizing your heart's deepest desire. He'd told the class that it was a large part on the path of finding out who one was, because they might learn something new about themselves. While people could lie to themselves, dreams couldn't lie at all. Ron knew what he was going to see, yes. That wasn't the part he was worried about. He was worried about what would happen after... after...

"I need to go to bed," Ron said finally. "I can't concentrate."

He half expected Hermione to snort something about him never being able to concentrate, and that was why she always ended up practically doing his homework. Instead, all he got was Harry glancing up and nodding at him. The boys made their way up to their dorm, walking tensely but excitedly, at the same time. As soon as they walked through the door, they spotted tiny little cups on the table, filled with just enough potion for a single person to take for a good night's sleep. Ron pulled on his pajamas, never taking his eyes off of the beautifully colored potion. It seemed that his was the only one that was a good color. Harry, having worked with Nevile, had an especially fowl, brown looking potion. Ron slowly lifted up the cup. The thin liquid swished around the edges teasingly. Hermione had gone up to bed hours ago. Ron wondered if she was already sleeping, and what her magically altered dream was about. Probably something to do with Viktor Krum. Ron had basically laid that whole thing to rest, but hearing that Hermione had kissed him, and then hearing the teachers talk about his and Hermione's relationship, had just brought on a fresh surge of anger. Ron supposed that, on that note, he should probably be angry at Harry. The teachers had spoken about Harry and Hermione, too. But it was harder to do that, because one: Harry was his best friend, and two: it wasn't what Harry had done, it was what other people thought and suspected he _might_ do. He was braver, smarter, stronger, handsomer and just generally _better_ then Ron Weasley.

It was this thought that made Ron so badly want to escape his life. So in one quick movement, he threw back the potion and gulped it down. Then he crawled into bed, drew the curtains, and waited for sleep to come so that he could pause one nightmare and fall into a dream.

OOO

_He'd asked Fleur Delecour to the ball. What had he bloody been thinking? He must have been going __crazy. That was the only explanation. Blindly, Ron stumbled up to the common room. He thought that Ginny must have come to his side sometime as he walked because he could smell her familiar, sisterly scent next to him, but he payed no mind to her. As Harry's voice joined the conversation, Ron mumbled a few incoherent things to appease him. Oh, good merlin. Was he ever going to live this down? Why oh why? Hermione came to talk to them, and Ron decided to focus his attention on her, because she was right in front of him, and it would mean that he could phase everyone out without having to turn his head. So he stared at her, seemingly blind to everything else. But he wasn't blind. He could very much see. And he was quite surprised at what he saw. Her hair glinted in the light of the common room. With her newly straightened teeth, her face had a maturity that hadn't ever quite been there before. And, speaking of her mouth area, she had the most beautiful lips any boy had ever dared to lay eyes on. _

"_Hermione! You're a girl!" Ron burst out. _

"_Yes, well spotted." Hermione said, frowning._

"_Well, you can come to the ball with one of us!" _

_Her expression melted from annoyance to embarrassment, and she turned bright red. _

"_Yes, alright," she said when she had composed herself. There was a pause. "Er- which one?"_

_Harry grinned._

"_Go with Ron. He's the one who spotted you for what you were first. Plus, he's really already done the asking." _

"_Yeah, but you'd look much more idiotic then I would without a partner-"_

"_Thanks, Ron. But-"_

_"Will you stop!" Hermione said angrily. "I won't come with either of you if you keep handing me off to the other!"  
><em>_  
>"Right, then. Would you like to pick one of us Hermione?" Ron asked innocently. Hermione turned red again.<em>

"_No," she whispered. "Go ahead."_

_Harry stood up. "Ron, you go to the Yule Ball with Hermione. I'll find someone," he went over to Parvati and proceeded to ask her to the dance. He came back looking quite grim. "See. Practically easy." _

"_So it looks like we're going together." Ron said, turning towards Hermione. Her cheeks were rosy, and she nodded shyly. Ron, however, didn't seem too much affected. "Right, well, glad that's over." _

_The expression on Hermione's face was suddenly crestfallen. She sighed and stood up._

"_I'm going to the library."_

_Ron glanced back at her._

"_Oh, I'll come too. I want a new Quidditch book."_

_The two headed off, walking silently through the corridors. Ron was suddenly and painfully aware of the fact that he'd be slow dancing with this girl in just a week's time. He glanced down at her hand. Now that she was a girl- or, rather, now that he'd realized she was a girl- he was more conscious of how close they were walking, how dark the corridor was. The fact that he could reach over and take her hand without even moving that much. His stomach felt strange, and Ron groaned inwardly. Was he always going to feel this was around Hermione now just because she was a girl? She was his best friend! They'd known each other for years. He couldn't possibly have feelings for her. That was absurd. She was Hermione._

"_Ron?"_

_"Hmmm?"_

_"You've just walked passed the library."_

_It was dark, so she couldn't see his flush, but Ron wouldn't have been surprised if he had been emitting a glow of some sort._

"_Oh. Well, I have a lot on my mind," he said defensively. "And I don't go to the library nearly as much as you do." _

_Hermione pushed open the door, rolling her eyes in an endearing sort of way, and led him to a table. There, she read, and Ron continued his previous train of thought. So, no, he didn't have any feelings for the girl sitting across from him. She was Hermione, just Hermione, with her strange adoration for books, with her compulsion to answer every question the teacher asked, her magically straight teeth, her gorgeous mahogany eyes, and with her bushy, bushy hair, glinting enticingly in the candlelight. No, he didn't have feelings for her. Not at all. Still and all, Ron was glad when a sudden clearing of the throat brought him out of his reverie. Viktor Krum was standing behind Hermione. She turned around, surprised, and he bowed._

"_May I haff a vord?"_

_Hermione glanced nervously at Ron, but he was no help. He was gazing up at Viktor Krum as though he'd never seen anything so amazing in his life. Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend before nodding and standing up. Viktor Krum pulled her into the corner, and Ron strained his ears to hear the conversation of the two._

"_I haff been coming to the library for quite some time, trying to get up the courage to talk to you. I meant to ask earlier today, but..." he frowned and scratched his head, seemingly unsure of why he had not asked her earlier. Then he shrugged and took Hermione's hand. "I vould be honored if you vould be my date for the Yule Ball."_

_Hermione's eyes widened. She shot a glance at Ron, who immediately looked down, pretending to be immersed in his book._

_"Viktor, I'm really, really sorry, but I've already said I'd go with someone else." Hermione said softly. _

"_If you are so sorry, perhaps you vould rather go vith me, not him?"_

_Hermione's cheeks grew redder. She was practically eliminating a bright red light with her blush. _

"_No," she said in a small voice. She glanced back at Ron. He was looking at her with complete shock on his face, not even bothering to cover it up, or hide the fact that he'd been listening. Did someone just pick him over Viktor Krum? "I think this boy is the best option for me to go to the ball with. Thank you, though. I'm honored you considered me."_

_Viktor nodded and walked away. Hermione sighed, cleared her throat, and sat back down._

"_What was that all about?" Ron asked casually. Hermione looked at him, her eyes sparkling with laughter. _

"_Oh, don't pretend you didn't hear every word." _

_Ron grinned at her._

"_Fine. I did."_

_He frowned, now._

_"But why?"_

_"Why what?" Hermione asked, picking up a book and leafing through it. This time, it seemed as though it was her turn to feign casualness._

"_You chose me," Ron said quietly. "Why didn't you just choose him? Tell me you wouldn't go with me. I'd've understood."_

_Of course, he probably would have had some issues, but they would be very platonic issues. Hermione, in the mean time, was staring at him intensely. He looked right back. Finally, Hermione sighed._

"_You... you'd laugh at me if I told you. Everything would change."_

_Everything would change... did she fancy him? But- no. That was completely ridiculous. Wishful thinking. No, no, it wasn't even wishful thinking, because if it was then that would have to mean that Ron wanted Hermione to fancy him. And he really didn't. No, that would be quite awkward. It would kill their friendship. He didn't fancy her. _

_There were so many things Ron wanted to and needed to say in that tiny little moment where his best female friend was blushing expectantly at him. Instead, he said, "Oh. Alright, then." And turned back to his book. Was it his imagination, or did Hermione look disappointed? No, it must have been him. He'd have to borrow Harry's glasses sometime._


	3. Chapter 3

Ron woke up abruptly. He lay in bed for a few moments, comfortable in his warm covers and plaid pajamas, but then, remembering what he'd seen last night, sat up with huge eyes. It wasn't as though he hadn't seen it coming. He knew that the thing he most regretted about his life was not asking Hermione to the Yule Ball. What else was there really to regret? All of his older brothers and their achievements? Maybe he would have dreamed about that before fourth year. But afterwards, there was never any going back. Sometimes, falling for Hermione felt very final. Like he'd never love anyone else. It was sort of comparable to being hungry. When he was hungry, he wanted food, and he wouldn't stop wanting it until he ate it. Then he didn't need anymore of it. He rather thought that was a good analogy. Besides the fact that he could never get enough of Hermione. Maybe falling out of love, however, was like becoming full. Maybe, in a relationship, falling out of love was when you were done eating. And the only relationships that worked were the ones that you pressed on for. The ones that tasted like cheesecake, but even when you were too full to eat anymore, you kept eating, because it was cheesecake, and cheesecake was delicious.

He needed help. This was probably the dumbest thing he'd done in a while. Compare love to cheesecake? Ron couldn't even remember where his thoughts had been before he'd gone there. Now, all he knew was that he wanted breakfast. He jumped out of bed and dressed for the day, trying to catch parts of Seamus and Dean's whispered conversation about their dreams. Harry and Neville must have been up, but neither of them emerged from their beds. Ron thought he knew why. Their dreams would be the toughest the handle. They both would have had parental related dreams, wouldn't they? Harry would have dreamed about Voldemort never killing his parents. And Neville would have dreamed about his parents never being tortured. Having no idea what Seamus and Dean's dreams were about, you would have thought that Ron would be the most curious to hear the explanations of theirs. But it was interesting to think about what Neville would be like if he'd been raised by his mother and father. And it was more interesting yet to find out what the world would be like had Harry not been the chosen one, or if Voldemort had just never heard a prophesy. But Ron didn't actually think Harry would be talking about that. Which was why he had a plan to steal Harry's dream diary later in the week. Speaking of. Ron grabbed his journal to take it down to breakfast with him, just in case. Then he sprinted down the staircase and into the common room. The only occupant was Hermione, and she was seated on the couch, staring at the fireplace that held no flames.

"Hermione?" Ron said cautiously. She looked up. Her eyes weren't bright. She looked rather tired, almost old. If the dream version of Ron, just fourteen years old, had thought Hermione was mature in fourth year, it was nothing compared to how she was now. He started to smile at the way her hair was sticking up. Obviously, she hadn't bothered to brush it. Come to think of it, Ron hadn't brushed his either. He thought he probably looked ridiculous right now. He wasn't wearing robes, he was just standing there in his slacks and his school sweater. It was untucked, and his shirt tail was sticking out in the front and back, but not the sides. And, as for his hair...

Hermione stood up, smiling weakly at him. She walked slowly over to him, her eyes on his. She slowly searched his face, and then, sounding tired, she breathed,

"Your hair looks like it's on fire."

It was early morning, and sun was slipping through the windows. Ron happened to be standing in the brightest patch of the room, as if in a spotlight. And Hermione was in it with him. Neither moved. Hermione's eyes were on his hair, his eyes were on her face. And they were having their first _moment_ in a long time. A moment in the common room, the empty common room, where no one would ever know about it but them. And what bad could come of it, really, if Ron just bent down and kissed her? He could claim that it was a side effect of the potion if she got angry. It sort of was. As he stared at her, he wondered once again what she had dreamed about. It scared him so much that he wanted to know so badly. She scared him more then anything else. His feelings for her frightened him more then the idea of facing Lord Voldemort one on one.

"Won Won!"

Lavender's voice drifted down the girl's stairway, and Hermione stiffened. She backed away quickly from Ron, bumping into the couch in her haste to get away from him. By the time Lavender had run down the stairs to tackle Ron into a hug, Hermione was out the portrait hole, and he was very much alone. God, what was he going to do? What was he going to do about Lavender? His dream that told him his all-time deepest regret had been about not getting together with Hermione. And he had just been thinking about kissing her. Oh, lord. He really was an arse. He was the biggest arsehole of all time. How could he possibly go on dating Lavender like this? And, yet, what could he say to her if she asked why he was chucking her?

"_Oh, Lav Lav, didn't you know? I'm in love with your roommate. Mind putting in a good word for me?"_

Yeah, that was likely. Ron miserably took the hand Lavender offered him and headed out of the common room just in time for the morning rush of students to start spilling down the staircases. They headed to the Great Hall, and Ron pulled out his journal and quill as soon as he had sat down on the bench.

"What are you doing?" Lavender asked, frowning.

"Writing my dream journal." Ron answered. "I want to get it down while it's fresh."

"Can I read it when it's done, Won Won?" Lavender asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Er- no." Ron said, posing his quill over the pad. He wrote quickly, eager to start eating, and eager to get the text out of Lavender's grasp as soon as possible. She seemed to resign herself to the fact that she couldn't read it, though, because after a bit she gave up and started gossiping with Pravati. Relieved, Ron closed his journal, then glanced down the table. Hermione was scribbling in her journal furiously. She had a dot of ink on her nose. And, if Ron knew her, she'd have it all over her hands, too. Usually, Hermione wrote neatly. But when she was writing like _this_, ink practically flew in the air. It was one of the things that he loved about her. One of the things that showed how passionate she was about pretty much _everything_.

During class, the teachers had trouble getting their students to stop talking about their dreams. Or, rather,_pestering _about their dreams. No one actually wanted to share- after all, it was rather personal. But everyone wanted to know what the others had seen. And so began an ongoing war of the same words being repeated over and over again, in shouts, in whispers, and in notes, slipped from hand to hand under the table.

"What'd you see, mate?" Ron asked, figuring he'd better get into the spirit of things. Harry just shook his head.

"I think you must know the essence of it, just by knowing me, but I don't want to get into it. Want to tell me what yours was about?"

"Nope."

And that was that. Other people, however, made it their business to ask everyone in the year, and if the person didn't tell them, they'd keep asking until the person broke. When Ernie McMillain would not stop questioning Ron about his dream, Ron finally said,

"I dreamed that I was Draco Malfoy, okay? My deepest regret is that I am not Draco Malfoy!"

Poor Ernie wasn't sure if Ron was serious or not, so he stood there with his mouth open until Ron shook his head wearily and said,

"I'm kidding."

Ernie nodded, but he walked away and stopped pestering people after that. Ron thought that he might be worried that he'd come upon someone who actually _had_ dreamed that they were Draco Malfoy. That was enough to scare anyone off. Besides, some things, like deepest, darkest regrets, were just better kept a secret. Still, Ron was glad when the day ended. If there was one thing all the sixth years agreed on, it was the fact that sleep had just become more interesting then a Hogsmeade weekend and a school Quidditch match put together. And that was pretty big. Slughorn seemed to have done _everyone_ a favor by making being asleep much more interesting. Instead of their usual procrastinating, the students sped through their homework, and the common rooms were emptied of sixth years by seven at night. Never had there been such a fight for showers and bathrooms, and never had any of the students been more eager to hop into bed. Ron finally managed to make it to his own after several minor catastrophes, including Harry slipping on some water Dean had spilled in his haste to wash his face, and Neville accidentally using Seamus's toothbrush. He drank the potion quickly and crawled into bed, then shut his eyes. Almost immediately, he started to dream.

_Seeing as there was a week to go to the yule ball when Ron had asked Hermione, she had very little time to prepare. She'd been spending less time with Harry and Ron and more time with Ginny. They often sat by the fireplace at night, grinning and giggling and often gesturing to their hair, clothes, or faces. And Ron just sat there, struggling with his emotions and trying to convince himself that he didn't have any feelings for Hermione. That said, Ron was glad when the yule ball arrived. he was sure that once he saw Hermione out of her school robes and dressed up to the nines, he'd realize that she wasn't really that beautiful, and promptly stop thinking about her as much as he had been of late. On the day of the yule ball, when she left their snowball fight to start to prepare five hours early, however, Ron began to lose hope in this theory. He went upstairs and took a shower. By the time he had changed into his dress robes, he had gotten himself convinced that Hermione was the ugliest girl he'd ever laid eyes on, and she had billions of unforgivable personality flaws. So as he stood in front of his mirror, trying in vain to fix the cuffs of his dress robes, he was not in anyway alarmed to hear Hermione's voice floating up the staircase, calling his name._

"_Ron, are you coming?" she asked, climbing the stairs. _

"_Yes, I'm almost done, Hermione. Merlin, have a little-"_

_But he stopped short, because she had just appeared in the mirror behind him wearing her dress robes. And she looked gorgeous. Breathtaking. Beautiful. Pretty wasn't even big enough to describe the way her silky blue robes fluttered down her body, the way her make-up accented every feature the way it should have been accented, and the way her smooth updo framed her face. As she smiled at him in the mirror with her newly straightened teeth, Ron forgot his first name, last name, where he was, and where he was going. He even forgot about his ugly dress robes. All he knew was Hermione, and the fact that his best friend was, quite honestly, the most amazing girl in the world, and that, tonight, she was his, all his, only his. Noticing finally that she was staring at him oddly, waiting for him to say something, Ron cleared his throat and made a sound that came out as 'Nyuhuh'. Hermione made a sympathetic noise._

"_Honestly, Ron, they're not that bad."_

_Not knowing what she was talking about, Ron said, "Er- what are not that bad?"_

_"Your dress robes," Hermione said in an 'isn't it obvious?' tone of voice. _

_He suddenly understood. She thought he was paralyzed in fear because of his awful dress robes, __when really he was paralyzed in fear because he'd just realized that he was falling in love with his best friend. But seeing as he didn't want her to know that, Ron decided to play up the whole robes thing. He looked at them in the mirror, made a face, and said,_

"_You're wrong. They're bloody hideous. I can't go to a public place wearing these. We... we should stay here all night," he added hopefully. Unfortunately, all Hermione did was laugh gently and walk around so that she was in front of him._

"_Absolutely not. We're not missing such a lovely opportunity for international commingling just because of your dress robes," she took the frayed end of his sleeve and lifted it up so she could see it. "Let me guess," Hermione said quietly. "You tried to sever the lace?" Ron nodded, staring at her unblinkingly. Hermione bit back a smile. "Take them off." she said. Ron complied and laid them on the bed. He felt extremely stupid standing next to her in jeans and a plain white T-Shirt while she was in her gorgeous robes, but Hermione didn't seem to notice. She tapped her wand against her nose before lengthening his sleeves and then recutting off the cuffs. She redid the collar, too, and made it so that all the edges were neat. With a final wave of her wand, she made sure that the dress robes smelled good, instead of the gross, old, musty scent they'd possessed earlier. Then, grinning, she handed him the robes._

"_You're bloody fantastic!" Ron said enthusiastically, slipping the robes over his head._

_"I think you've said that before, but thanks again."_

_"While you're at it, could you turn them a different color?"_

_Hermione laughed._

_"Oh, Ron. Come on. I can't make your life that easy. We have to have a_ little _mortification in front of the whole school."_

_"Hermione, that'll be achieved as soon as I start dancing."_

_She lifted her finger and placed it on his sleeve, running it over the fabric before speaking as though he'd never interrupted her. _

"_Besides, I think they're cute. I like the color. It suits you."_

"_So you won't be completely embarrassed to have the worst dressed date there? You won't just __ditch me for Krum?"_

_Hermione chuckled. When she spoke, she didn't meet his eyes._

"_Oh, Ron. You don't know anything." _

_Then she said, brightly, _

"_For what it's worth, you could embarrass me, but you couldn't ever _completely _embarrass me. There's always a little part of me that knows what a great guy you are even when you're being a bigger prat then Percy."_

_"Ouch." Ron said, wincing mockingly. Hermione smirked._

"_C'mon. Let's go. We have a dance to get to." _


	4. Chapter 4

What an inconvenient time to wake up. Ron felt almost angry at his subconscious for doing this to him. They'd almost been at the Yule Ball! He wanted to see the look on Krum's face when he saw who Hermione had picked over him! He wanted to see who the scumbag had decided to go with instead of Hermione. He wanted to see what it would be like to slow dance with his date, too, because, to this day, he'd never slow danced with her. Actually, he'd never slow danced with anyone at all. He was pretty pathetic. But he'd spent his whole Yule Ball grumping and groaning over Hermione. It had all blown by him, and he knew that he'd really missed out. With these dreams, he'd be able to experience it properly. And he'd always wanted to experience it properly. It _had _looked like a lot of fun.

Ron leaned over and checked his clock. Merlin, it was early. Looking around, he realized that none of his roommates were up. He scowled. Why had his dream cut so short? He kept on waking up really early, and he usually liked to sleep in. It was almost as if... but, no. That was ridiculous. Ron leaped out of bed and hurried to put his clothes on. He grabbed his journal and headed down into the common room. And there she was. Hermione Granger, sitting on the couch, writing in her own dream diary, her face peaceful. She was smiling a small little smile, and she looked comfortable and happy. Ron glanced around. Yes, she was the only other person awake. What could this mean? Was it because they had just both made the potion at the same time, so they had to wake up simultaneously? It seemed that whoever woke up first would pull the other person out of the dream. This explained Ron's much too early risings the last two days.

"Hermione?" he said carefully. She glanced up. When she saw him, her smile became fuller. Then she flushed, and it dropped. Ron, pretending to ignore this, sat on the couch next to her. She inched away until they were on opposite ends. He rolled his eyes. How ridiculous. "Do you know anything about two people waking up at the same time because of the potion?" he asked, staring at her pointedly. She flushed, and clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Has that been happening?"

Ron nodded.

"Do you honestly think I want to be waking up this early?"

Hermione lowered her hands and bit her lip. Sitting there like that, she almost looked childish. Biting her lip, thinking hard, her expression guilty.

"I'll set my alarm for later," she decided, and the look vanished.

"Thanks," Ron said gratefully. "But do you know... why?"

Hermione nodded.

"If the potion makers are experiencing the exact same dream because they have the same regret, they'll wake at the same time. That way, neither will be ahead of the other in the..."

It suddenly seemed to dawn on Hermione that this meant that they were having the same dream, and what this signified. Her eyes widened, Ron's eyes widened, and they stared at each other uncertainly for quite a few minutes. The urge to kiss Hermione had never been stronger, and Ron's nails were digging into the palm of his hand. She was seeing the same thing he was! She wanted the same thing he did! Right? Of course right! Her deepest regret was not going to the Yule Ball with him! With _him_!

"Hermione-"

"No!" she said, standing up. "No way. I'm not talking to you, Ron, remember?"

"But-"

But Hermione shook her head and rushed out of the common room. Ron stared after her. What could he do? Should he run after her? But she wasn't his girlfriend. She might as well have been... but he _had_ a girlfriend. He was snogging- er, dating- Lavender Brown. And a bloke couldn't have two girlfriends. That was even worse then having one and being irrevocably in love with your best friend who currently wasn't on speaking terms with you because you were dating said girlfriend. Oh, merlin, was he screwed. Ron sat on the couch and wrote in his dream journal until Harry and his other roommates woke up. Then he stowed his journal back in his dorm and came back down just in time to hear a voice call out those two wonderful words:

"WON WON!"

Ron considered running, but oh, well. She'd already seen him, and if he ran now he'd look like a total prat. So he let her snog him for a few moments until he pulled away, stating the fact that he was hungry. Although he really wasn't. The dreams were making him loose his appetite. Once he got to breakfast, he ate a piece of toast to please Lavender, but he was noticeably less hungry then usual. In fact, most of the sixth years were noticeably less hungry then usual. Heads of Houses seemed to be seeing this, too (all except Snape), and were going around to their tables and urging their students to eat. Every once in a while, one would flash Slughorn an annoyed glare, and he would stop watching and hurriedly become very interested in his meal. Down the table, Hermione was staring at the wall with a blank look on her face, her eyebrows in a tiny frown. Her head was cocked to the side a little, and she almost looked like she was listening to Neville, but Ron could tell she wasn't from the way her eyes glossed over. Biting back a laugh, he got up and tapped her on the shoulder to wake her back up as he made his way down the table. He was already gone by the time she looked around to see who'd done it, but her eyes immediately found his anyways, and Ron gulped. How could she possibly have known that it had been he who'd prodded her? Did she have eyes in the back of her head? Did this mean she was going to become a teacher?

Ron went right to his Transfiguration class, and actually beat McGonagall there. He spent about ten minutes just sitting there thinking, and he was the only one there when Hermione came, too. At one look at him, she looked like she was about to start walking back down the hall. Ron held up his hands.

"Hey! Truce, okay?"

"What?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"I'm not saying you should start talking to me again. Just- I swear I won't talk to you unless we're working together in class or you address me first." his voice lowered. "I never wanted you to hate me. Or be afraid of talking to me, or whatever made you turn around just then."

"I'm not afraid of you," Hermione said, drawing herself up to her fullest height. Ron wanted to point out that, if he was afraid of her, she had to be afraid of him, but he kept his mouth shut, as per his promise. They remained quite comfortably there until the rest of the class and McGonagall came. Still, it was difficult to keep his mind off of Hermione, and Ron had more trouble then usual paying attention in class. Which was really saying something. After dinner, he wanted to go to bed around six, but Harry reasoned with him, telling him that he'd be able to sleep in the following morning. So Ron agreed to have a couple of chess matches with Harry, and then went off to snog Lavender when she insisted. Finally, around ten, he got sick of imagining he was snogging Hermione, so he shook his girlfriend off and went up to his dorm. He was too eager to bother with pajamas, so he just kicked off his shoes, leaped into bed, and instantly fell asleep.

_He was holding her hand. Good merlin, he was holding her hand! Ronald Weasley had no bloody idea how this had happened, but he had never been so happy in his life. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to remember how they had gotten there. When they'd walked down to the Yule Ball, they hadn't been holding hands, although they _had _been walking remarkably close. And then, as Hermione waved to Viktor Krum, who looked a little sad as he stood next to Padma Patil, they hadn't been holding hands either. As they'd eaten their dinner, talking about everything from teachers to chess to books to Quidditch, they had not been holding hands. But now, as they were standing around the dance floor, watching Harry struggle through the steps, their hands were entwined tightly together. Ron wasn't sure whether he'd grabbed Hermione's hand, or if she'd grabbed his, but he did know that they were both happy with how easy it had been to talk to the other with no Harry around. It was one thing Ron had been worried about. However, they'd done it beautifully. She laughed at his jokes, he ate up everything she said, and it was perfect. A simple glance in Hermione's direction told Ron that she was grinning a grin similar to his own. _

"_Do you want to dance?" Hermione asked. "This one's faster." _

_Ron blinked. He hadn't actually notice the song change. Everyone was on the floor, and he and __Hermione were standing there, still holding hands._

"_Er- sure." Ron said, clearing his throat. "Yeah, that'd be great."_

_He and Hermione went over to the floor and looked around, then turned back to each other._

_"I'm not good at this." they said simultaneously, and then they laughed._

"_I'm better at ballroom," Hermione offered. "My dad used to dance with me like that when I was younger."_

_"I'm all around awful," Ron admitted. "Maybe we should just copy what everyone else is doing?"_

_He looked around. Most of his fellow students were jumping up and down with their fists in the air and their hair flying all over the place. After clearing his throat, Ron attempted to copy this style of dancing. A small snort made him turn around, and he immediately noticed Hermione laughing so hard she was clutching her side. Ron crossed his arms. _

"_Oh, could you do better?"_

_"No, but at least I didn't try." Hermione giggled. _

"_C'mon. You owe it to me." _

"_No. Absolutely not."_

_"I'll tickle you."_

_"Ron!" Hermione said, aghast. _

"_I know where you're ticklish. I'll tickle you."_

_Hermione sighed. Then she jumped up, her fist in the air, looking just as idiotic as Ron was sure he had a few moments ago. _

"_Are you happy?" she said, blushing._

_"Extremely."_

_Hermione looked her head, smiling. "C'mon. Let's go." She grabbed Ron's hand._

"_Where?"_

_"Ummm..." Hermione spotted a basket of grapes on the refreshment table, and tugged Ron over to it. After she'd picked it up, she dragged him out into the courtyard. Spotting a wall to sit on, the two went over to it. "Seems like it's been made warmer so that people will want to be out here." Hermione said as she took the hand Ron offered her to help her up the wall. "Thanks."_

_"So..." Ron said, popping a grape into his mouth. "Why are we sitting on a wall?"_

_Hermione placed her feet in front of her on the wall and circled her arm around her knees. She put the basket between the two of them._

"_We toss the grapes. Every time you don't catch one in your mouth, you have to answer a question the other person asks. Truthfully."_

_"If I didn't know you, Hermione, I'd say that this sounded a hell of a lot like truth or dare. But it isn't, because you are much above that."_

_"Where do you get the dare here?"_

_"I dare you to catch this grape in your mouth," Ron improvised, tossing it over to Hermione. Instantly, her mouth popped open, and the grape fell in. Ron stared at her, stunned. "Have... have you been practicing?"_

_Hermione chuckled._

_"Don't be ridiculous, Ron."_

_"Well..." _

_Hermione threw a grape at him. It hit his nose and bounced off. Ron raised an eyebrow._

"_I wasn't ready. And you got my _nose_. Redo."_

_"No. My question. Okay... last year, when I couldn't find my arithmancy book for eleven days near exam time, did you steal it?" _

_Ron rolled his eyes._

"_You could ask me anything, and that is what you choose?"  
><em>

_Hermione shrugged._

"_Answer it, Ron."_

_"Yes, it was me."_

_"Okay." Hermione said easily. And she gestured for him to toss her a grape. Ron did so. She caught it. And so it went for a while, with both of them catching the grapes, but with many near misses, most of them by Ron. Hermione was happy to taunt him, and was in the middle of doing so when she missed her first grape. "Uhg!" she said angrily. "Ron, that hit me in the eye. Doesn't count."_

_"There are no rules in the game, Hermione. My question."_

_"Fine."_

_"Do you like any nicknames?" Ron asked. "I don't believe I've ever called you a nickname, but your name is sort of a mouthful." Catching the look on her face, Ron added, "Not that it isn't beautiful! It's the most gorgeous name on the planet!" _

_Flushing and grinning, Hermione considered the question._

_"Well, I hate Herms and Hermy. And I don't like Mi, either, it sounds too possessive. But I suppose I don't mind Mione as much as the other ones. So, if you absolutely need to, you can call me Mione," she decided. "But not anyone else. Don't do it around Harry, or he'll want to call me Mione, too." _

_And she threw the next grape. Ron, of course, missed, because he was so surprised over her answer._

_"Good," Hermione said smugly. "I've been waiting to ask this. Second year. Why did you hex Malfoy for me when your wand was so bad?"_

_Ron raised an eyebrow._

_"He called you a mudblood. I thought my motive would have been fairly obvious."_

"_Oh," Hermione said, looking away. "Yeah. Right. Well, I thought there might have been another motive there. Clearly, I was wrong."_

_"You're my best friend," Ron said to her. "I'd burp up slugs for you again if I had to."_

_"Good," Hermione said, satisfied. "I'd do it too, although I'd make you turn away so you couldn't see me. It's not a very attractive thing to look at."_

_"Thanks," Ron replied sarcastically. _

_"Welcome," Hermione shot back in the same sarcastic tone. And the next thing Ron knew, they were kissing. His lips landed on hers, and Hermione let out a little noise of shock. She hadn't seen it coming. Ron, however, took this to mean that she didn't want to kiss him. He pulled back abruptly, and their kiss lasted for roughly two seconds at the most because of this. Hermione's wide eyes followed Ron as he turned away from her, his legs now dangling over the wall, his face brilliantly red. He hid it in his hands, shaking his head._

_"Ron?" _

"_I'm sorry," Ron muttered. "I thought... I thought you wanted to kiss me."_

_"Oh." Hermione said quietly. Then, after a few moments, "But... I_ did_! I did, Ron, I was just surprised." _

_He looked up at her, his head still near his knees._

_"You swear? You're not saying that just to lessen the resemblance of the color of my face to my dress robes, are you?"_

_"I swear," Hermione said, laughing. "Look, I'll prove it. We can start over. Kiss me again. I promise I'll be good."_

_Ron blushed._

"_No... I can't kiss you now. There's nothing romantic about this."_

_"Romance?" Hermione said, raising her eyebrows. "You? Ronald Weasley?"_

_"Well, a few moments ago, I just_ had _to kiss you. But now I need to surprise you again."_

_"Oh," Hermione said, pleased. Then, "What if I kissed you?"_

"_Well, that-"_

_But he was cut off short, because she'd already done it. It was longer then their first, but not by much. It was the sort of chaste kiss that beginners of the age fourteen might experience. Ron pulled back with a goofy grin on his face, and Hermione was having a difficult time hiding her glee. She checked her watch to cover it up._

"_Oh, merlin! The dance is almost over... poor Harry. We totally abandoned him!"_

_"Hmm. Somehow, I don't really regret it."_

_Hermione looked like she was about to scold him, but then she cracked a smile. _

"_Neither do I. Oh, god, Ron. Only you."_

_"What?"_

_"Only you could make me feel good about doing the irresponsible thing and neglecting our friend."_

_"Oh. Yeah, I'm a guy of many talents." _

_The great hall was coming closer, and Ron could see the crowd of dancers on the floor. The song seemed to be a lively waltz, and the floor was made up mainly of adults. With a glance at each other, Ron and Hermione silently communicated that they did not want to dance to this. Instead, they set out to find Harry. He was sitting on one of the cushy benches, watching Cho dance with Cedric, his face stony. _

_"How's your night been?" Hermione asked gently, sitting down beside him. Ron sat down on the other side. Not able to resist, he grinned at Hermione. She grinned back._

_"Awful," Harry replied. "Parvati left me alone because I was ignoring her."_

_"Did you really care that much?" Hermione asked, trying to sound sympathetic._

"_No. How's your night been, you two?"_

_"Great." Ron said._

_"Awesome." Hermione agreed._

_"Hey, guess what, Harry! We..." Hermione stomped on Ron's foot. "Ouch!"_

_"What?" Harry asked, looking round at them both._

"_We snuck out and didn't dance. That's why Ron's so happy," Hermione said, shrugging._

_"And you couldn't have let me join?" Harry groaned._

"_It was sort of a two person thing." Ron said, smirking. Hermione shot him a glare, and the smirk vanished._

"_Right. Well, I think I'm going to bed now. Goodnight, both of you."_

_"Night," Hermione and Ron said in unison. Then Hermione turned back to Ron. "Want to dance?"_

_The song was suddenly slow and sweet. The girls had their arms looped around their dates' necks, and the boys' hands were on the girls' waists. _

"_Alright," Ron said enthusiastically. "But just this one."_

_"Agreed," Hermione said. "We need to go to sleep."_

_So they got up and went to the dance floor, and Hermione put her arms around Ron's neck, and he placed his hands on her waist. Hermione's head came exactly to his chin. He was a whole head taller then her. And he loved it. She fit into his arms perfectly, and if he wanted to he could rest his chin on the top of her head. _

"_What was that all about?" he muttered after inconspicuously sniffing her hair. _

"_What?"_

_"Why couldn't I tell Harry that we kissed?"_

_"Oh," Hermione looked up at him, biting her lip. "I guess I thought it would be too big a deal. That it might effect our friendship a bit too much. It could change the dynamic, make Harry feel left out, like a third wheel." _

_Ron frowned._

_"I never considered that. Don't you think he'll be happy for us?"_

_"I'm sure he will, but, you know."_

"_How long will we have to hide it?"_

_Hermione thought about this. Then she said,_

"_He really, really needs us right now. We can tell him when the tournament is over."_

_"Right." Ron agreed. There were a few moments of silence, during which Ron thought Hermione possibly pressed herself closer to him. Then, something occurred to him. "Does this mean you can't be my girlfriend?"_

_Hermione smiled a genuinely huge smile. She stood on her tip toes and whispered in his ear,_

_"Could I be your secret girlfriend?"  
><em>

_Ron nearly made his head fall off from all the enthusiastic nodding. _

"_Good," Hermione said, satisfied._

"_You've said that word a lot tonight."_

_"Good."_

_"I like it."_

_"Good."_

_"Oh, shut up. Now it's starting to get annoying."_

_"Good."_

_"Hermione!"_

_"Sorry," she laughed. "I think I might be a bit too... giddy. That's what happens when the thing you've been wanting for two years happens. I'm not sure how much longer I could have waited without bursting, in any case."  
><em>_  
>"I'm glad you waited this long." Ron told her.<em>

"_I would have waited until we were seventh years if I had to, Ron."_

_And he believed her. He believed her as they danced too many more dances, as they talked nonstop to each other no matter what the pace they were swaying, as they walked up the abandoned corridors with her head on his shoulder. He believed her as they went to the portrait hole, and he kissed her again, because he wasn't sure if there'd be anyone in the common room. He believed her when they realized that no one else was in the common room, and when they stayed up until 2:30 AM talking. He believed her when they kissed goodnight again, this kiss longer then the others, and when he watched her walk up the stairs to her dorm, the short train of her dress gliding lightly along the steps. _

_He always believed her, every day for the rest of his life. _


	5. Chapter 5

Ron was sweating when he woke up. His breathing had quickened to ten times more then usual by the time his eyes flew open. He lay there in bed, staring at the red of the curtain and trying to think. But he didn't know what to think. He felt utterly emotionless, because he had too many emotions to let through. The one coherent thought he had right now was the fact that he needed to work his way through this, needed to think about this bit by bit, piece by piece. Otherwise he would explode. He had too much to think, too much to process. One thing was absolutely for sure. He now knew what it was like to kiss Hermione. But the dream him had more experience with it then the real him. This honestly was what could have happened if Ron had asked Hermione to the Yule Ball? They'd've kissed till the cows came home, started secretly dating... it seemed that their lives would have been full of mystery, fun, and intrigue if Ron had gotten up the courage to do one little thing before someone else. Or if Hermione had said no to Krum. Yet- knowing she would say no to him if Ron had asked first... did that make him feel any better? Did it make him more secure about Hermione? No. How could it possibly. This was what would have happened. This was what could have been. It didn't hold true anymore. The key point was the fact that it didn't happen. And that was what made Ron hate Slughorn more then he'd ever hated anyone in his life. This figure included Viktor Krum. And he-who-must-not-be-named. Put together.

Aware suddenly that there was no movement outside his bed curtains, Ron pulled them back. He was alone. Everyone else must have already gotten up and started their day. Ron considered going back to bed, but decided that he felt too listless. Instead, he climbed out of his warm covers, dressed in many layers, and went down to the Quidditch Pitch. It was covered in snow, so no one was there, but Ron got his broom out anyways. He flew around the pitch several times as fast as possible, his teeth gritted together. It was painful to keep your eyes open in the cold weather and wind, but Ron welcomed the challenge, for it made him angrier and more determined yet. His eyes were burning, his throat was burning, and every part of him felt like he was on fire. As he rode, he thought about the dream, his anger level rising steadily. When he was sick of flying around in circles, Ron took a quaffle and charmed it to always fly back to him. Then he threw it several times, watching it soar through the hoops with a satisfied grimace. He was so busy thinking about the Yule Ball, however, he didn't see the ball come soaring back to him. It hit him in the head. With a roar that was both a combination of anger and pain, Ron sped forward and rammed the quaffle into the side of the hoops several times, enjoying the resistant CLANK it made every time he did so. Then, when he couldn't be angry anymore, he landed, bitter tears rushing down his cheeks. He brushed them away impatiently as he hurried up the stone steps. It was around three o'clock, so he went into the Great Hall for lunch. Since no one was there it didn't really matter that he was covered in sweat and had the most windswept hair anyone had ever seen. Still, Ron ate quickly, and went up to the prefect's bathroom as soon as he was done to take what was probably the longest shower he'd ever taken in his life. During this shower, he briefly considered drowning himself. Then he considered drowning Slughorn, and after that Krum. He did this quite happily until it became time to step out of the shower. He left its warmth and comfort quite reluctantly, and arrived back in the common room with his hair still wet. Once there, he was unsurprised to see Hermione seated in her favorite chair by the fire. He walked over to her.

"Thanks for letting me sleep late." he said dryly. For a few moments it looked like she wasn't going to say anything. Ron turned around and started walking away. Then, Hermione's voice called out his name, and he whipped around.

"Don't forget about prefect duty," she said quietly, her eyes on his wet hair. Ron's insides seemed to freeze. Prefect duty? She was right. He'd totally been neglecting his prefect duties. To be honest, in all the excitement and depression of his and Hermione's fight, Ron had forgotten they existed. But it was good of her to cover for him, which she must have done, seeing as he hadn't gotten in trouble, yet. Ron nodded guiltily.

"I'll be there."

And four hours later, he was. She looked relieved to see him, although he knew she was trying to hide that. He didn't know why, but he'd been expecting a conversation. Which was why Ron was a bit disappointed when Hermione said,

"You take that end, I'll take this end."

They walked to their respective ends of the hall that they were patrolling. Ron wondered if Hermione would still smell the cologne he'd worn for her. Probably not. God. Had he ever been so far away and yet so infuriatingly close to her at the same time in his life? And doing prefect duty silently just gave him more time to do what he'd been doing all day: think. Not that he was done thinking. He'd never really be done thinking about this. If he never got to be with Hermione, it would haunt him forever. If being in love with Hermione at sixteen felt so final, how would he feel about her in ten years? Twenty? Would he, if he had to, be able to get past the girl who had dominated his childhood and teenage years? Would he be able to fall in love with anyone else? He might if he had to. It would probably be really hard. He'd spend the whole relationship comparing the other girl to Hermione. Wondering what she was thinking about, Ron glanced at Hermione and saw her mouth set closed, like she was using everything she had not to talk to him. He felt a sharp pang in his stomach at this. But, of course, he didn't say anything. He expected to spend the rest of the night in silence, actually. Hermione, however, surprised him five minutes before they were supposed to go.

"Ron?" she said, her voice cracking as she said his name. One look at her face told Ron that Hermione was near tears. He guessed she'd been doing a lot of thinking, too. He strode quickly down the corridor and onto her side of the hall, then stopped a few feet away from her.

"Yeah?" he breathed.

"What's my favorite color?" Hermione asked, her eyes on the floor. Ron frowned.

"What?"

"What's my favorite color?" Hermione repeated.

"Do... do you not know?" Ron inquired, confused.

"No, I know!" Hermione snapped. "I want to see if _you_ know!"

"Oh," Ron said. "Well, it's blue, isn't it? Your favorite color is the blue."

Hermione looked at him, for the first time staring him in the eyes. She nodded slowly, then whispered,

"What's her favorite color?"

"Who?"

Hermione crinkled her nose. When she spoke, it was with a biting ferocity.

"Lavender!"

Ron froze. He swallowed. The tips of his ears turned red. Not only had he not known who Hermione was talking about (but, honestly, Lavender Brown was the last person on his mind at the moment), he didn't have a clue what his girlfriend's favorite color was.

"Er- brown?" he said jokingly. Hermione laughed, a relieved sound. Her smile grew, and she stepped a bit closer to him.

"Why do you know mine and not hers?" she whispered to him. "Be truthful."

"Because..." Ron said slowly, considering and waiting for an answer. Suddenly, it dawned on him. "Because I don't care."

"Exactly." Hermione whispered. Then she stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek. Before Ron could even begin to register what had happened, she'd twisted around and was walking down the corridor. As he stood there with his mouth hanging open, her composed voice bounced down the hallway to him.

"I'm still not talking to you."

This, of course, did not stop him from touching the place on his cheek where her lips had been and staring after her, watching her bushy hair bounce up and down with her steps, his mouth twisted into a smile. After she had gone and Ron was able to regain a smidgen of his composure, he checked his watch and realized that prefect duty was over. Hermione Granger, as always, had timed everything perfectly. He made his way back to the common room with the goofy grin still on his face, his mind buzzing as though he'd recently drunk much too much butterbeer. And then came the burning question. He was already so full of Hermione flavored happiness. Should he use his potion tonight? He didn't need it to get him through, to boost his happiness. Right now, he felt full to the brim. Maybe he'd just save the potion and wait until he needed it, when he was lonely or sad again. When Hermione hadn't just kissed him on the cheek. But on the other hand, that would make his grade drop, and he really couldn't afford that. Plus, that would mean that Hermione'd be a day ahead of him in the dream. So, sighing, Ron changed into his night clothes, drank the potion, and fell asleep.

_The morning after the Yule Ball had held many blushes, _are you sure_s, and _did you mean it_s. After Ron and Hermione had both agreed and assured each other that they did mean everything, however, the two were happy to be an official couple- even though no one knew. As time went on, it became apparent that being a good boyfriend/girlfriend came naturally to neither of them. Ron was often immature and tactless, but Hermione sometimes ditched him for her studying. They were not without their problems, no, not at all. It seemed that every day the two switched roles, one wanting to tell Harry and the other not. And on those days, whoever wanted to tell the world would accuse the other of being ashamed to date them. Still, they always got through, and, in spite of their little tiffs, they remained happy. After a while, the arguments over when they were going to tell Harry died out and were replaced by random little bickering sessions thrown in randomly throughout the day. Hermione and Ron both learned to be content with stolen glances and secret meetings. They'd even started playing footsies under the table. An example of this was the night before the second task. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were seated in the library, researching ways for Harry to be able to breathe underwater. The bloke had waited much too long, and Hermione and Ron were immediately recruited into helping him. They did so without complaint, vowing that Harry would never know that he had interrupted their plan to meet up later that night. In times like these, it was friendship before anything else. This, of course, did not stop Hermione and Ron from playing footsies. Her foot softly tapped his first, and his would tap hers not long after. So it went, hour after hour, until, little by little, the kicks started getting more ferocious and less playful. Both Ron and Hermione were trying their damnedest not to start laughing, and they were doing pretty well, too. Until..._

_"Ouch! What was that?"_

_"What?" Hermione asked. _

"_Hermione, you kicked me!" _

"_Oh!" Hermione said in a high voice. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Ron put his head on his book in an attempt to muffle his chortles. "Shut it, Ron, Madam Pince will be over here any second if you keep going on like that." _

_He sent an ugly grimace in her direction, but assured her it was okay by a prod of his foot, this time soft, under the table._

_"It seems to me like you've been spending too much time together," Harry said._

_"What do you mean?" Ron asked quickly, all traces of smiles gone._

_"Well, I can only assume that kick was directed towards you, Ron. Which makes me wonder what you did, mate."_

_Ron opened his mouth to respond angrily, but Hermione kicked him, hard, in the shin._

"_He was kicking _me_. It was _ever _so childish." Hermione sniffed. She gave him a glare that clearly told him to follow along._

_"I was bored." Ron said, shrugging. "I mean, I'm all for helping you, mate, but I could use something to eat or a little grace period every once in a while."_

_"There's no time, Ron, the task is in-"_

_"I know, Hermione, thanks for reminding me." _

_She opened her mouth to retort, but suddenly Fred and George appeared, telling Ron and Hermione that McGonagall wanted to see them. They both nodded and left the room, sending apologetic looks to Harry and making him promise to bring as many books as he could back to the common room. Once out of sight, their hands immediately found each other, and Hermione smiled, just at the pure simplicity of holding hands with Ron. Pure simplicity didn't last long, however, as he rounded on her and pressed his lips to hers. He sighed against them when he was finished kissing her._

"_I wanted to do that all day."_

_Hermione laughed._

___"Surely footsies is enough fulfillment for a day?"_

_Ron rolled his eyes. _

"_Yeah, no. I mean, I'll make do with it... as long as you don't make it a three way thing. Harry can not play."_

_"It was an accident!" _

_They went on like this all the way down the hall, secretly beaming at each other when the other wasn't looking._


	6. Chapter 6

_When they reached McGonagall's office, they were greeted by the sight of a solemn looking Professor Dumbledore, a confused looking girl who seemed to be a mini Fleur and Cho Chang._

"_Ah, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger. So good of you to finally join us."_

_Hermione blushed._

"_We got- er- sidetracked."_

_Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at them._

_"Did you? Well then, Minerva, we must excuse them. Now, you must be wondering why you're here. Basically, you all are the things that the champions will miss most."_

_Ron did quick math in his head._

"_How come Harry gets two and Krum gets none?"_

_"Ah," Dumbledore said. "Well, seeing as Miss Granger was the first person Mr. Krum asked to the Yule Ball, and he's shown interest in her above the other girl he brought as his date, we thought he might be more enthused if Miss Granger was his hostage." _

"_No," Ron said immediately, glancing fervently at Hermione and shaking his head. "No way."_

_"Mr. Weasley, is there a reason why you do not wish Mr. Krum to rescue Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked, looking at him closely._

"_Uh, yeah!" Ron said instantly. "A few, actually. Firstly-"_

_But Hermione stomped on his foot, looking at him with troubled eyes, and he stopped talking._

_"That'll be just fine." she said firmly. "How are we going to remain under the lake for an hour, Professor?"_

_"I'll be putting you all into a bewitched sleep." Dumbledore said happily. Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to start spewing out every little detail she knew on bewitched sleeps, but she closed it quickly, remembering that she wasn't in class. Ron, meanwhile, crossed his arms over his chest and glared in the direction of the wall. Hermione, feeling as though this was getting a bit out of hand, said, _

___"Excuse us for just a moment, please." _

_And she grabbed Ron's hand. She tugged him into the corner and slapped his arm._

"_What's wrong with you?" she demanded. "Why is this an issue?"_

_"Firstly, you'll be in that lake, and I'll be worried about you!"_

_"You'll be asleep, Ron. Right next to me."_

"_Right, yeah. But Krum is going to take you in his arms and deliver you to safety, and that's my job, isn't it?"_

_"Ron, you've saved me countless times," Hermione said genuinely. "Give someone else a chance."_

_"I don't want to." Ron replied stubbornly. _

_"He'll never been my knight in shining amour. If you understood that, you'd be so much better off."_

_"Okay." Ron said grumpily, but he seemed to melt a little bit._

"_Good," Hermione replied. "Because you're so much better then Viktor Krum any day." _

_The two turned back to the group and Hermione said,_

_"Alright. We're ready."_

_"Good." Dumbledore said. "Now, the spell will take effect the second you touch the water. I'll put it on you tonight and you can sleep in the hospital wing."_

_Everyone nodded, and Dumbledore took out his wand and performed the spell four times. Ron felt like water had been dumped on his head, but when he reached a hand up to feel it, he was totally dry. Hermione looked delighted at this new form of magic, and Ron couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her this excited. He sighed endearingly. What a curse it was to have an amazing, gorgeous, smart girlfriend._

_Not._

_The group headed down to the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfery shoved Ron and Hermione into beds right next to each other. The matron made sure to draw the curtains before she left, but they knew this couldn't stop them from talking. So they did, about ten minutes after the Nurse had gone to sleep. _

"_Remember when you were in here, Hermione?" Ron asked._

"_Er- I try not to." Hermione responded, and Ron guessed she was blushing. He didn't have to guess for long, though, because a second later Hermione drew back her curtain and he drew back his. They grinned at each other. _

_"You were an excellent cat." Ron said._

"_Oh, I'm sure. But which was worse, when I was a cat, or when I was petrified?" she teased. _

"_Petrified, for sure." Ron told her. "It was so terrible to see you there, looking like wax, unmoving and unthinking, with you eyes wide in horror. If your arm hadn't been raised, I'd have thought you were dead. At least when you were a cat, I had an excuse to look at your arse."_

_Hermione laughed._

"_Well, it's your turn next," she said, shaking her head. "Harry's been in several times, I've been in three..." _

"_I can hardly wait."  
><em>

"_Mmm."_

"_This doesn't count, then?"_

_"None of us are sick! Of course not. You're going to have to find another way."  
><em>_  
>"Maybe I'll attack a merman."<em>

_"Now that I'd like to see."_

_"I'm glad. I'd really like you to be there as I'm ripped to pieces."_

_"I'd protect you!"_

_"Ouch."_

_"What?"_

_"No vote of confidence? And in your daydream, you save me?"_

_"You need saving in my daydream." Hermione smirked. _

"_You always save me!"_

_"No. I don't."_

_"Let's see... that plant in first year. And you helped nurse me back to health when I passed out on the chessboard. And you were there for me when the dementors made me remember the time Fred turned my teddy bear into a spider. And... um..."_

_"See, that's it."_

_"Fine, but when have I ever saved you?"_

_"It's the little things. You've never saved my life, but you save me in other ways."_

_"Care to elaborate?"_

_"No."_

_Silence._

_"Alright then."_

_Hermione sighed._

"_You save me from _you _occasionally. And you make me feel worth something, and you make me feel safe. You're comfortable, and you're my sounding board, and I know that you'd be willing to do anything for me. Knowing that helps when I want to kill you."_

_"Good to know."_

_A wall had been broken down, and they talked for hours before Hermione finally told Ron that they needed to go to bed._

"_Why? We'll be in an enchanted sleep for an hour tomorrow!"_

_"Still."_

_"C'mon, Mione!"_

_"No. No way! I'm tired Ron."_

_"I'm not!"_

_But he gave himself away by yawning hugely and letting his eyelids slide down._

"_There we go," Hermione said softly. She slid out of her bed and kissed Ron on the forehead, touching his hair before backing out of his section and closing his curtains. Ron heard her draw her own curtains shut before slipping back into her bed. He sighed, content with the thought that Hermione was sleeping in the bed that was next to him, and turned over, drawing his covers closer._

"_Goodnight, Hermione." he murmured. "I love you." _

_There was a pause. Ron bolted up in realization of what he had just said. No. No way. But maybe she hadn't heard him. Just then, the curtain flew back, and Hermione was reveled standing behind it. Her hair was extra bushy, and she looked a little crazy._

"_What did you just say?"_

"_Er- nothing."  
><em>

"_No! It's not! You said something! What did you say?"_

_"I- er- I dove you." _

_"RON!"_

"_Shhhh! You'll wake everyone up!"_

_"Weasley, I swear, what the hell did you say?"  
><em>_  
>"I said I loved you, okay?" Ron said, looking harassed. <em>

"_And did you mean it?" Hermione shot at him._

_"You're scaring me."_

_"Ron-"_

_"Yes! Yes, I meant it! I think."  
><em>

"_What?"_

_"I think I love you. I think I'm in love with you." _

"_Oh my god." Hermione whispered. _

"_Thanks. That's the reply I wanted." Ron said irritably. _

"_No, I..."_

_She paused with her mouth open, then shook her head, whirled around and went back to her bed, sliding the curtains shut again. Ron gulped. He didn't think this was good. He thought this might be bad, actually. Wasn't the girl supposed to say it back? He felt a burning in his throat, and swallowed it away. Then Ron turned over and took a while to fall asleep. He was in the middle of a dream when he felt a shaking on his shoulder. _

_"Ron? Ron, you prat, wake up!"_

_"Hmm?" Ron said, turning over. "What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing's wrong, idiot!" said a familiar voice. Ron opened his eyes to see a pair of brown eyes looming over his face. _

"_Well then why the bloody hell are you waking me up?"_

_"I love you too." Hermione said, now satisfied with herself. _

"_That's nice," Ron said. "Now can I please go back to sleep?"_

_Hermione looked at him, surprised. Then she sighed and backed away from him. As she closed his curtain, he heard her say,_

"_By the way, you snore like an old man." _

_OOO_

_The next morning was a bright, sunshiny day. Ron could hear students heading down to the great hall, buzzing excitedly about the first task. At first he thought that this was what had woken him up, but then he became aware of a pair of lips on his. He opened his eyes to see Hermione, looking very pretty with her bushy hair in a half ponytail and a clip pushed into it, adding color to her robes._

"_Are you wearing make up?" Ron asked incredulously. Hermione grinned at him and shrugged nonchalantly. _

_"It felt like a make-upish kind of day."_

_"But... you own make up?"_

_"Ginny gave me some for my birthday. Mum sent it when I found out about the yule ball. By the way, you need a breath mint."_

_"What the bloody hell did you expect, Hermione? It's morning! I haven't gotten out of bed yet."_

_Hermione wordlessly handed him his toothbrush, and Ron, getting the hint, got out of bed and went to go brush his teeth. He would have felt awkward letting Hermione see him in his pajamas, but she'd already seen him like that so many times. It was difficult to feel awkward with her at all. Especially because they'd been best friends for three years before they'd started dating. When he was finished brushing his teeth, Ron ambled out of the hospital bathroom to see Hermione sitting on her bed, reading. He felt a sudden upsurge of emotion at the sight of her licking her finger before turning the page. She always did that. She hated bending anything that wasn't meant to be bent. He was just wondering whether or not he should disturb her when Madam Pomphrey came in, accompanied by a floating table filled with food._

_"Eat quickly," she told everyone. "You need to get down to the lake."_

_Ron and Hermione sat next to each other, Ron eating enthusiastically, Hermione sparingly. It was just one of the ways that they were opposites, and one of the things that endeared them to each other. When they were all finished, they walked down to the lake. Before they went in, Ron muttered to Hermione,_

_"Just remember what I said last night, okay? When you're in the arms of Viktor Krum, I mean."  
><em>_  
>"You insecure little..." Hermione started, smiling, but just then Dumbledore appeared, and told them to go into the lake. Everything suddenly went black, and the next thing Ron knew, he was looking at Viktor Krum grabbing Hermione in his arms and swimming up to the top. They both emerged, sopping wet, and were immediately taken by Madam Pomphery. She wrapped them in blankets, and the first thing out of Hermione's mouth was, <em>

_"Where's Ron?"_

_"Harry and Ron haven't returned yet, my dear." said the nurse._

_"Were Viktor and I first?"_

_"No, Cedric was. Fleur got stopped at the grindylows, and you and Viktor are outside of the time limit. Mr. Potter is well outside of the time limit."_

_"Oh no." Hermione whispered. "Ron will be okay, though, right?"_

_"Certainly. The only problem is, the spell only lasts a certain amount of time. But if the Headmaster feels the need to, he can go underwater and recast it, or just have the mermaids return Mr. Weasley. Your friend will be fine."_

_Friend. If only it were that simple. Hermione looked like she wanted to shout that she and Ron were in love, but she kept her mouth shut and allowed Viktor Krum to steer her away from the crowd._

_"Herminny, I've never felt this way about another girl," he told her. "I have watched you in library, and you are truly one of a kind. Would you accompany me to the next Hogsmeade visit?"_

_Hermione shook her head._

"No_, Viktor! I'm sorry, but I'm not interested." _

"_Why?"_

_"I'm in love with someone, and he's not you."_

_"Who is he?"_

_But just then, there was a roar from the crowd, and Hermione looked around to see Harry and Ron emerging from the water with... Fleur's little sister? Immediately, Hermione ran to Ron and threw her arms around him in a very wet hug. Loosing his head completely, Ron leaned down and kissed her. Suddenly, Hermione seemed to remember where they were, and she pulled back and looked around. Not one person was paying a single bit of attention to her or Ron, except for Viktor Krum. Everyone's attention was on the judges as they gave their marks. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hermione kissed Ron once more before letting him go, clearing her throat, and stepping a bit away from him so that they wouldn't be standing so close._

"_See?" she muttered as Fleur's marks went up. "You didn't have a single thing to worry about. Krum asked me to Hogsmeade, but I turned him down."_

_"Yes. I think it went very well." Ron said happily._


	7. Chapter 7

"Wake up, Ron! Wake up!" called out a voice from far away. Ron's eyes flew open, and he looked up to see Harry's green ones staring at him.

"What?" Ron asked, annoyed.

"You... you just kept muttering fowl things about Viktor Krum and saying Hermione's name. I figured you'd want to wake up, mate."

"Why? Because real life is _so _much better?" Ron snapped angrily. He couldn't believe dream-Ron had told Hermione he loved her. He couldn't believe Hermione was going to be seeing the exact same thing as he would! Christ. He was in so much bloody trouble.

Harry shook his head.

"I know these dreams are better then real life. But we just have to work through it. Like Slughorn said, these things can make or break you."

"Don't even," Ron warned, getting out of bed. "I hate that man right now."

"You never adored him in the first place."

"Are you bloody sticking up for him?"

"No... Ron... it's just..."

"These dreams are making everybody angry!" Ron shouted. "I walk around wanting to cry all the time, every day for you is like your parents have _just_ died, and Neville isn't even eating unless Hermione forces something down his throat! Slughorn thinks a bunch of sixteen year olds can handle this, but we can't! I don't _want_ to know who I am! That's something you need to discover yourself, not through your bloody dreams."

Harry stared at him, a little shocked.

"I know." he said finally. "But did you ever think maybe other people are having it worse then you are?"

Ron instantly dropped his gaze.

"Sorry, mate," he said finally. "I- er- shouldn't have snapped."

"It's fine," Harry told him. "Now, c'mon. Hogsmeade today."

Ron made a face.

"Lavender wants to go to Madam Puddyfoot's."

"Oh God." Harry said, leaning down to get his jacket from his trunk.

"I just want to go with Hermione."

Harry lurched upwards, slammed his head on the top of his trunk, cursed, and turned to Ron.

"To Madam Puddyfoot's?"

The honest answer to that was yes. Ron hadn't been thinking about it when he said it out loud. He covered up, however, by saying,

"No! No, of course not. I just want to go to Hogsmeade with her. 'Cuz that would signify we were friends again."

Harry rolled his eyes and stared at Ron with disappointment on his face.

"Right. Because when you mutter girls' names in your sleep, that's when you know you two are just friends."

"Hey!" Ron said, surprised Harry was playing that card. Harry looked smug until Ron said, "I was actually yelling at her for being such a bitch in my dream, thank you very much!"

Looking more frustrated then ever, Harry shut the door to his trunk and said,

"Fine. I don't care. It's only your life, you know."

After one meaningful glance at Ron, Harry left the room. Utterly, utterly shocked, Ron sat on his bed, staring after Harry for quite a few minutes. He only woke from his stupor when he heard the noise of footsteps hurrying up the stairs. A second later, Hermione emerged through the door, looking positively gorgeous in a knit cap that somehow made her hair frame her face perfectly.

"Harry, I-" she said, before seeing that the dorm was void of anyone but Ron. "Oh, it's you."

There was such distaste in her voice, Ron almost groaned.

"Yeah. Just me." he muttered dejectedly, angrily. Hermione stared at him, her chest rising and falling quickly, her eyes sorrowful, her head shaking back and forth.

"This is total crap." she said finally.

Ron raised an eyebrow at the sound of Hermione- Hermione Jean Granger- saying the word 'crap'. It was utterly ridiculous. But all she did was twist her scarf in between her fingers and say,

"This whole thing is just total crap."

"What?" Ron said, not fully understanding.

"Everything!" angry tears sprung into Hermione's eyes. "I find out through a dream that you liked me in fourth year, apparently _loved_ me, and then I can't even talk to you in real life because you're snogging Lavender Brown! It's just crap! I just want-"

"What?" Ron said, interrupting. "What do you bloody want, Hermione, because I'm having so much difficulty understanding you these days!"

"I just want-" Hermione said, staring into his eyes. "I want... uhrg!"

And then she spun around and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Ron sat back down on his bed, fuming, angry, and completely, irrevocably in love. Ten minutes later, more delicate footsteps came up the stairs, and Ron stood up immediately.

"Hermione!"

"Ron?"

"Oh." Ron said. "Hi."

"Won Won, it's time to go." Lavender said, walking up to him and taking his hand. "Madam Puddyfoot's, remember?"

"Only too well," Ron muttered resentfully. He peered over her shoulder and into the doorway, but no Hermione appeared. Resigning himself to a Lavender-esque day, Ron took his girlfriend's hand and hurried down the boys' staircase with her. It was a freezing cold day, being that it was December. Lavender was huddled in a hot pink scarf, hat, and pair of mittens, while Ron was wearing his maroon finery. He thought he saw Hermione smirking as she passed into Hogsmeade next to Harry. Jealousy reared its ugly head in Ron's stomach, and he swallowed hard to keep himself from exploding as Lavender put her head on his shoulder. They walked like this, quite bumpily, until they reached Madam Puddyfoot's. Here, Lavender seemed to feel the need to slide into the same booth as Ron, so they stayed smashed together on the same side of the table. Ron drank his tea (was it him, or was even the liquid here pink?) and pretended to listen while Lavender spoke of the most uninteresting subjects. When she reached up to kiss him, Ron thought of kissing Hermione in the hospital wing, her laughing face ten times more beautiful then Lavender Brown's. He pulled back quickly, and Lavender made a shocked little noise that did not escape Ron's notice.

"I- er-"

It was a general rule that Lavender was always the one to pull back, and never Ron.

"I don't feel comfortable doing that in public."

Surprised, Lavender nodded. Then she smiled in what Ron supposed was meant to be an alluring way.

"Well then why don't we take this back to the castle?"

Ron could almost hear Hermione's voice in his ear, snorting at the cheesiness of the line. He must have said something along the lines of 'sure', because, next thing he knew, Lavender was pulling him out of the shop and back to the castle, where she managed to find them a nice empty corridor. Ron inwardly groaned. He already knew this whole process, and was in no mood to repeat it. Snogging Lavender had become utterly boring. She pushed him against the wall, and instructed him to close his eyes. He did. When he opened them, Hermione was in front of him, grinning at him, her soft brown eyes set on his mouth. Slowly, she walked forward, and her hand went up on the wall, somewhere around his ear, and her face was getting closer, closer, closer to his. Ron counted the freckles on her nose. One, two, three, four- and then her lips met his, and Ron felt nothing, nothing at all, and he realized that the girl he was snogging was Lavender. Sighing against her mouth, he placed his hands on her waist and kissed her back with little enthusiasm.

"What's wrong?" Lavender demanded. "What's the issue?"

"I suppose I'm just tired," Ron fibbed.

"Oh. Well, how about we make it a little more exciting?"

"No, that's okay." Ron said, and then he closed his eyes again. This time, he forced himself to imagine. His hand traced the smooth skin on Hermione's cheek, and his other hand tangled itself into her bushy, bushy hair. It was all Ron could do not to say Hermione's name, and he kept himself in check at all times. If only Lavender knew how much effort he went to in order to make her happy. Was it really worth it? No. But he couldn't chuck her. He'd never broken up with anyone in his life. The prospect was absolutely terrifying. Finally, when he couldn't stand it anymore, he wriggled out of Lavender's arms and said,

"I'm gonna go to bed now."

"You still haven't told me your deepest regret, yet." Lavender said as they reached the portrait of the fat lady, gazing at him with annoyance.

"Not getting together with you sooner." Ron improvised.

"Oooh, WON WON!" Lavender squealed, and it was all Ron could do not to cover his ears with his hands.

"Goodnight, Lavender," was all he said, and then he hurried up to the boys' dorm and into his pajamas. He gratefully drank his potion, then clambered into bed and fell into a much needed sleep.

"_I don't want to."_

_"Too damn bad."_

_"Ron! Why do we have to?"_

_"Because it'll be fun!"_

_"No it won't!" _

"_The people in there seem to be having the time of their lives."_

_"Oh, I see. You just want to go in because of all the snogging."_

_"While that _is _pretty much true... it's Valentines' day, Hermione!"_

_"So it'll be booked."_

_"I made reservations."_

_"You hate me, don't you?"_

_"Sure. That's why I've been dating you the past two months." _

"_I knew it!"_

_"Shut up, Hermione." _

"_In the mean time, you haven't told me you loved me since the first time," Hermione muttered under her breath._

_"What was that?" Ron asked. _

"_I just... nothing."_

_"Hermione."_

_Ron rounded on her, his eyes sparkling, but pleading all the same. _

_"I know you don't like it, but it's Valentines' Day, and I wanted to do something special."_

_"You could have brought me flowers and candy and I would have been perfectly happy."_

_"Where was I supposed to get those?"_

_"Um... use the marauders' map to sneak out?"_

_"You're condoning me sneaking out?"_

_"For my Valentines' Day gift? Honestly, yes."_

_"I'll keep that in mind for next year."_

_"Do that." _

_They glared at each other for a few seconds until Hermione broke. _

"_You know what, you're right. Everything else will seem repetitive. This is the only thing we haven't done together."_

_"Right!" Ron said enthusiastically._

_"Have you ever been in?"_

_"Yes. It's very... pink." _

_"Oh, good. That'll go well with your hair." Hermione smirked. At the sight of the look on Ron's face, she bit her lip. "Sorry, that was mean. You know what, I should be glad that you actually took the initiative to be romantic." _

"_Right! Thank you!" _

_The two headed into Madam Puddyfoot's, hand in hand. They approached a podium where an old lady sat, dressed in a pair of bright pink robes that had a pattern of blinking hearts. Her glasses, too, were in the shape of them, and Ron couldn't help wondering how she could stand herself or her workplace. _

"_Table for two," Ron said, turning bright red. _

"_Do you have a reservation?" asked the woman that the two could only presume to be Madam Puddyfoot. _

_"Er- yes. Weasley." Ron said, redder yet._

_Hermione stifled a giggle as the two were brought to their table. _

"_Have fun!" their waitress told them. Ron and Hermione thanked her and picked up their menus. It was hard to escape the fact that everyone around them was snogging, but they covered their blushes by looking at the specials for the day._

"_Heart shaped donuts look good," Ron said, trying not to laugh._

"_Mmm. Why don't we avoid anything heart shaped."_

_"Here? I don't think that's possible." _

"_Oh." Hermione said. _

_A few seconds later, they had both decided what they were going to order, and put their menus down. Sitting there awkwardly, Hermione and Ron tried to think of something to say. When the pressure had become too much, Hermione blurted out,_

_"Did you know that hearts are not, in fact, named after the internal organs of people, but instead the shape of a woman's arse?"_

_She immediately turned red and clamped her hand over her mouth. _

"_I can not believe I just said that."_

_"Me either," Ron chortled. "Why am I not surprised? 'Here, darling, take this box of arse shaped candy'." _

_Hermione snorted, and turned it into a cough when one of the snogging couples broke free and glared at her. Ron started laughing, but was able to hide it in his tea, as it had just arrived.  
><em>

"_What should we do?" Hermione asked. "I can't snog you in public. I'm sorry."_

_"It's okay," Ron agreed. "Public snogging's weird."_

_"Once again, I ask you why you picked this place."_

_"Don't start with me."_

_"Okay. Hey, how about I Spy?"_

_Ron grinned. _

___"You're amazing. Did you know that?"_

_"Sometimes I do."_

_"Okay. Um... I spy with my little eye something pink."_

_"My face?"_

_"Bingo."_

_"I spy with my little eye something cute."_

_"_My _face?"_

_"I was going to say the ribbons on the napkins, but, yeah, that works too." _

_They went on like this for a while, bursting into hysterical laughter at random things about the shop, and causing couples to pull apart and look at them disdainfully. Ron didn't care. He didn't think he'd ever had so much fun. When they were finally ready to exit the shop, the pairs looked glad to see the backs of them. Ron and Hermione decided to head up to the shrieking shack. They talked for three hours, seated on the fence that divided magical folk from the shack._

"_Can you just imagine that this time last year we thought this place was haunted?" Hermione sighed. _

"_Yeah. And you asked me if I wanted to move closer to it, and I turned red."_

_"With a tinge of green, mind."_

_"Oh, how could I forget?"_

_"That's beyond me."_

_"Hey, remember how Malfoy asked us if we were shopping for our dream home?" Ron asked her. Hermione nodded._

_"That was... weird. Do you think he knew before we did?"_

_"No. I think he's a right pain in the arse."  
><em>

_Hermione rolled her eyes._

_"I'll ask Ginny instead."_

_"Fine. Wait- Ginny knows about us?"  
><em>_  
>"Well... yes."<em>

_"Hermione! And she hasn't said anything to me at all. Did you tell her not to tell me that she knows? Who else knows? Harry? Dumbledore?"_

_"No, of course not."_

_There was a pause._

"_Well, McGonagall knows."_

_"Hermione!"_

_"She pulled me aside and told me that she'd loose ten galleons if I didn't tell her. So I told her! I mean, that's a lot of gold, Ron."_

_"Why couldn't you have kept half for giving her the secret?"_

_"I got three. But that's what I used to buy your gift."_

_"My gift?" Ron asked, perking up. "For what?"_

_"Your birthday," Hermione said. "But don't ask me about it, because you're not getting anything out of me. Just forget it."_

_"How can I?"_

_"It'll be easy. You'll see." _

_Ron sighed heavily and shifted so that Hermione was now lying against him, her head on his chest, his chin on her hair. Hermione sighed contently against him._

_"Thank you," she whispered._

_"For what?" Ron asked. _

_"For making Madam Puddyfoot's perfectly tolerable."_

_"Ditto."_


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, when Ron saw Hermione in the great hall, she looked like she was floating on a cloud. As she demanded Neville eat, she was grinning like a teenager in love. He wondered why. Was it because of him? Was it because of the dreams? Yes, that must be it. Ron's smile broadened, and he caught Hermione's eye and grinned at her. Looking surprised, she held his gaze for a few moments before hurriedly looking away. This was much better then Ron usually got, so, feeling cheered, he instigated a conversation with Harry about the Half Blood Prince potions book. Harry looked slightly surprised, as Ron rarely talked to him at breakfast, either because he was with Lavender or he was simply too tired, but was eager to participate in the conversation. When they were finished with breakfast, Harry made his way back so that he could catch up with Hermione. Ron stared after them wistfully. By dating Lavender, not only had he lost Hermione as a friend, but he had lost Harry, sort of. Harry was doing his damnedest to split his time half and half with Ron and Hermione. Feeling miserable again, Ron walked into transfiguration with his head down. McGonagall was trying to teach them to do something with their eyebrows. What, Ron didn't really care about. He was too busy staring at Hermione, too busy noticing the way her hair wove in and out of different variations of brown in all its bushy glory. Ron wondered why he had never noticed this before, but then realized that it was because he wasn't usually behind Hermione. He always sat next to her. That must have been why he was so fixated with her eyes. Her big, beautiful, emotion-filled brown eyes.

"_Fine. I don't care. It's only your life, you know." _

Yes, it was his life, and what was he doing with it? What if the stupid decision to date Lavender- made when he was so jealous he might as well have been drunk- made it so that he could never be with Hermione? What if the fact that he was ripping her apart now would make it so that she wouldn't want to be with him when he was ready to ask her to do just that? Not that Ron thought Hermione wanted to be with him now. Well, sort of. If anything, the indications that she did were stronger then ever before. And Ron had Slughorn to thank for that. But maybe the old man had tampered with the potion? It wouldn't have been surprising. He had bet his money that Ron and Hermione would get together at the end of the year. And he was the potions master. It was perfectly within his capabilities. Still, the idea was outrageous. And if not going with Ron to the yule ball wasn't what Hermione regretted most, wouldn't she be questioning the dream instead of kissing Ron on the cheek during prefect duty?

"Mr. Weasley? Would you care to join the class?"

"Er- sure." Ron said, clearing his throat.

"Well then why don't you perform the spell?"

"The... spell?"

"The one we were just practicing." McGonagall said in a dangerous voice.

Lavender leaned over and whispered the spell in Ron's ear. He performed it, waving his wand in the swish and flick movement, because it was usually a safe bet that a spell used that one. However, instead of the spell doing whatever it was supposed to do, Ron grew a spectacular mustache. Hermione let out a snort of laughter, which set the rest of the class off, including McGonagall. Ron turned maroon, and Lavender patted his arm whilst glaring at Hermione, who continued laughing derisively.

"Does anyone think that he or she can perform the spell properly?" McGonagall asked around. Hermione's hand shot up. She said the name of the spell loudly and clearly, flicking her wand in a way that was Ron's least favorite movement. Instantly, her eyebrow turned ginger. "Excellent!" McGonagall said, clapping her hands together. "My goodness, Miss Granger, I've never seen anything like it! They're actually a perfect imitation of Weas... never mind. Fifteen points to Gryffindor."

"What was that about?" Ron asked, leaning over to Harry. It was quite rare that McGonagall gave anyone fifteen points, regardless of their house. It was Lavender who answered his question.

"Don't you see? Her eyebrows are the same color of your hair. McGonagall was trying not to embarrass her."

Ron turned red.

"Why would she want her eyebrows to be the color of my hair?"

"Maybe she misses you." Parvati suggested.

Lavender squinted her eyes.

"God. Looking like that, she could be the child of you and her, couldn't she?"

"Yeah. But she'd need a totally different completion to be able to work it." Parvati agreed.

"I think she looks great." Ron blurted out, although he was feeling that Hermione, unlike Ginny, could not pull off the redhead look. Lavender's eyebrows shot up.

"Do you, now?"

"Well, I mean... no."

"I always knew he fancied her." Parvati whispered in Lavender's ear.

"I do not!" Ron objected. "That's insulting! How could I fancy this?"

He sat up straight in his chair, tossed his hand into the air, and proceeded to mimic what Hermione looked like whenever a teacher asked a question. The whole class laughed heartily, but Hermione's lip trembled. Ron realized that he had just killed the buzz she'd gotten from their dream last night. Feeling extreme guiltiness in his stomach, Ron tried to laugh along with everyone else. Both Harry and Hermione were glaring at him with such hatred at the same time, Ron had a brief day-mare during which the two of them bonded and started dating over mutual hate of the awful jerk that was Ronald Weasley. He was probably sending Hermione straight into Harry's arms. She'd probably ask him to be her date to Slughorn's bloody party, the one that Ron had not been invited to, in spite of Slughorn's best efforts to get the two together. And, under the influence of butterbeer, they'd complain freely about Ron. Then, Hermione would tell Harry that he was fifteen times better. She'd lean over and kiss him to prove her point, and the next day they'd announce to the whole world that they were dating. There would be press articles about it, and Harry and Hermione would be all over The Daily Prophet. Soon, Harry would stop hanging out with Ron altogether and spend all his time with his trophy, Hermione Granger. Right out of seventh year, they would get married and have a bunch of little Potters. And Ron would die a slow and painful death watching them do it all.

All this played through Ron's mind as he went about his day, and it made him livid with fury. This resulted in even more enthusiastic snogging of Hermione- LAVENDER- in the Great Hall, just to make HERMIONE (there, that was the right girl, right?) even more jealous. Of course, that made his and Lavender's mouths make a positively disgusting sound when Ron heard that Hermione had asked Cormac McLaggen to Slughorn's Party. Out of all people, the boy who had almost beaten him for the position of Keeper? The boy who was much better then him, but had somehow lost to him? Ron still had no idea how that'd happened. He watched in horror as Hermione had a conversation with Parvati and Harry about her date, and was fully ready to start snogging Hermione- DAMMIT! LAVENDER!- with even more vigor than before when his girlfriend, betraying him, turned to Parvati and started gossiping. Ron sighed and glumly played with his food. This was going to be the worst evening ever. He went back to the common room and spent the whole night looking at the fire. The room was mostly empty, because students were either at the library or in their dorms. It was just Ron and Cormac, and-

"Hi!" Hermione said brightly, coming down the stairs.

"Hi." Ron and Cormac said at the exact same time. Then, blushing, Ron turned back to the fire and said, "Sorry. Thought I saw Dobby, but it was just a gray helmet."

It was a lie, he had been talking to her, but he would never own up to that. Hermione looked ridged with anger at this, and it took her several seconds to compose herself. While she did this, Ron took the advantage to drink in her appearance. She looked amazing. And she wasn't his this time. She was, once again, someone else's. He hated the feeling. He hated how he felt watching Cormac present her with a red rose. He hated how he felt as Hermione giggled and smiled and thanked him over and over again, side glancing at Ron every few seconds. He hated how he felt as she, blushing, bestowed a kiss on Cormac's cheek. He _loathed_ how he felt when he watched Cormac make a hungry, lustful face as she did this, like a liquid-deprived person presented with fifty cups of water. Or, at least, that was the cleanest scenario Ron could think of. And he hated how he felt when Cormac offered Hermione his arm, and she took it so that they could depart the common room together. Ron went to his dorm and sat on his bed, but found that he couldn't sleep. So, slowly, he got up and went back down to the common room. It was pretty much deserted, so Ron grabbed an armchair by the fire and sat there staring persistently at the back of the fat lady's portrait. Near ten o'clock, someone slipped down the staircase to the girls' dorm. Thinking it might be Lavender, Ron ducked down, but it wasn't Lavender, at all. It was Parvati.

"Hi," she sighed, taking a seat across from him.

"Er- hi?" Ron responded.

"You're waiting up for Hermione, aren't you?"

Ron didn't say anything, but his flush was enough.

"I warned Lavender. Several times. It's not necessarily bad that you're in love with Hermione-"

"Hey! I might fancy her, but I don't love her!"

"Don't insult my intelligence, Weasley."

"Fine."

"As I was saying, it's not bad, but it sort of sucks for Lavender. She insisted that she could get you over anything that was there for Hermione, but then I told her that in doing this we'd be hurting our roommate, who isn't bad roommate, if not the most entertaining one."

Ron watched her silently.

"So... you're probably wondering where this is going. I know you're using Lavender to hurt Hermione. I get that. But what are you going to do about it? Are you going to ditch her?"

"Er- it's not in my current plan of action."

"Well, Weasley, you're waiting up until ten at night to make sure a girl that you apparently don't want to be with gets in safe from her date. How is that fair to you, Hermione, or Lavender? Not to mention me and Harry."

"When did you and Harry come into this?"

"We're the poor suckers that decided to be your friends. Now we have to deal with constant, annoying snogging. It might be better if I knew that what you felt for Lavender was more love then lust, but there's obviously none of the former and little of the latter."

"Thanks, Parvati."

"No problem. Oh, looks like you can go to sleep peacefully now."

"What? Why?"

Pravati had noticed what Ron had failed to. Hermione had just climbed through the portrait hole, completely solo. Quick as a shot, Ron leaped up, trying not to look to happy about the fact that Hermione was, for the moment, stag.

"Hi, Hermione," he heard Pravati say tiredly. "How was your date?"

But Ron didn't linger on the staircase. Instead, he took his time brushing his teeth and changing, and then he didn't fall asleep for a long time, until he knew Hermione would have closed her eyes and would be asleep, too.

"_Are you excited for the task?" McGonagall asked from behind Ron and Hermione as they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. Hermione shrugged._

"_I don't think a maze is as bad as a dragon or magical lake creatures, so I'm more excited then worried, it's true. Plus, I think Harry's pretty well prepared for this."_

_Ron nodded. _

_"Yeah, I agree. He'll do a great job. This is right up his ally."_

_"Still..." Hermione said. _

"_No, Mione!" Ron groaned. "Don't go into this! Rainbows and sunshine, remember?"_

_"Right, right," Hermione mumbled. "At least we'll be able to sit together for this task."  
><em>

_Ron hugged Hermione from the side and whispered in her ear,_

"_And by the end of the night, midst all the celebrations of a Hogwarts victory, we'll be able to tell Harry that we've been dating for seven months."_

_McGonagall hurried past them, and Hermione and Ron both thought they saw her wiping away a __happy tear._

"_That's ridiculous." Ron said, letting go of Hermione. _

"_She's worried! And thrilled. She really wanted us together, and seven months is quite a long time."  
><em>

"_We _are _good."_

_"We are." Hermione agreed. They slowly climbed their way up the stands until they found a good spot by the front. Four screens, right now blank, would later hold the images of each of the four champions as they made they way through the maze. Otherwise, the task would have been quite boring for all of the people in the peanut gallery, and Ludo Bagman wanted to ensure that it was the opposite of boring. Squished next to Hermione in a roaring crowd, Ron decided that there was no where he'd rather be. Until, of course, his mother squeezed in next to him, thereby eliminating any chance of him having real, Harryless alone time with Hermione. Ron exchanged a glance with his girlfriend, but she didn't look that upset. Instead, she was excitedly examining the crowd, her cheeks pink with excitement. "I really think Harry could win this," she whispered, her smile lighting up up face. Ron surreptitiously put his arm around her, and Hermione leaned into him just a little bit. Mrs. Weasley and Bill did not notice. Upon seeing this, Ron and Hermione high fived each other. They felt as though nothing could bring them down that day. Nothing at all. They kept their eyes glued to the screen that held the image of Harry and watched, thrilled, he defeated every obstacle he came to._

"_He has surprisingly few obstacles." Bill noted, but Ron and Hermione were too excited to think about what might mean at the time. They watched Harry reach the cup with Cedric and place his hands on it, securing a Hogwarts victory. They cheered with the rest of the crowd. And they didn't stop until Harry and Cedric did not appear out of the maze. As soon as everyone had realized something was wrong, the screens turned off. There was total and complete silence. Hermione and Ron exchanged surprised glances. _

"_Is this a part of the task?" Ron asked. Everyone shook their head, puzzled. No one seemed to know._

_"It does seem like something Dumbledore might do... doesn't it? A surprise to make it just a little bit harder?" George said, looking unsure. _

"_But he told them that the first person to touch the cup would win. Dumbledore wouldn't lie outright just for a bit more of the tournament, would he? He might twist the truth, but I don't think he'd lie so blatantly."_

_"Hermione has a point." Mrs. Weasley agreed. "It's only fair that there would be a warning before __they touched the trophy, to tell them they were being transported somewhere."_

_"But doesn't that defeat the purpose?" Bill argued. "I mean, it's the element of surprise, isn't it?"_

_"I agree with Bill. The thing that's bothering me is the fact that Dumbledore hasn't addressed us to tell us what's going on yet." Fred said in an uncharacteristically thoughtful tone of voice. Simultaneously, they all turned towards Dumbledore. His face was a mask. All of the other teachers and champions were turned away, so no one could see their faces. But it could only mean one thing. Either this was supposed to happen, and the game makers wanted to spectators to be wondering, or this was very, very bad. An hour passed, and nothing happened. Hermione found Ron's hand, and he squeezed hers tightly, trying to pour all of his worries and his need to be comforted into that hand squeeze. She seemed to understand, because she rested her head on his shoulder. Everyone was so busy speculating, no one seemed to notice. If they did, they didn't care. And then, suddenly, Harry appeared. He was clutching the tri-wizard cup. At the sight of him, Hermione leaped up in excitement and threw her arms around Ron. She kissed him good and well, and then pulled back, blushing._

"_Did anyone see?"_

_Ron glanced to the side._

"_Er- Neville." he said. Hermione's eyes flitted sideways to see Neville's shocked face looking at them. She waved. Then she turned back to Ron and nuzzled his nose with hers. _

"_I don't think that it matters much. We're telling Harry tonight, anyways." _

"_Right!" Ron said, and he picked her up and spun her around, kissing her again. Midway through, he stiffened and pulled back. "Oh my god."_

_"What? What is it?" Hermione said. Ron gestured for her to turn around, and she did so. Hermione let out a scream, and clamped her hand tightly over her mouth. Ron glanced at her to see wide eyes, already brimming with tears. A second later, she let out a whimper. "Is that...?"_

_Ron nodded his head. _

_Another scream exploded from Hermione's mouth, joined by the other people in the stands. And suddenly, Amos Diggory was running down the stands towards his dead son's body. He rushed to Cedric, screaming and wailing his son's name. Hermione tried to gaze at the scene, but it became too much for her, and she pressed her face into Ron's shirt, sobbing in her shock. He stroked her hair and exchanged glances with Bill. His older brother was not crying, but he looked immensely troubled as he accepted the hug his mother gave him. She seemed to be thinking of how it might feel if she had lost one of her own children, because Ron had never seen his mother sob so hard in his life. This only made him pull Hermione closer, and she clutched onto him as though her life depended on it._

_Then again, maybe it did._

_OOO_

_Seated at the edge of Harry's bed in the hospital wing was not where Ron and Hermione wanted to be as the sun set on the horizon. But everyone else was gone. So they sat there, holding hands and staring down at Harry's sleeping face, a blind sort of horror in their eyes. Cedric Diggory was dead. Voldemort was back. Little by little, the world was crumbling to its end. Ron had often been told that teenagers over dramatized many things. He'd heard the statement, "When you're young, everything seems like the end of the world." But if this wasn't the end of the world, what was? This awful event that made everything else even remotely tragic pale in comparison. What else could possibly matter? Everything seemed pointless and silly in compared to these events. The only thing Ron knew he had to hold onto was Hermione. Everything else was completely unimportant. Speaking of Hermione. She was talking to him, in a hushed, frightened voice that Ron never wanted to hear from her again._

"_Everything's going to change now, isn't it?"_

_Ron nodded._

_"It has to. Our world is going to collapse little by little around us."_

_"How do you know?" Hermione whispered. "Maybe it won't be so bad."_

_It was her last, desperate hope to cling to, and Ron hated to squash it like a bug. However, he knew he had to. He needed to face that truth for the girl that he cared about so much. He had to be strong. Hermione would force him to be a better person. And that was good, wasn't it?_

_"It will. It's already starting. You can tell."_

_They both peered out the window and into the night, as if expecting to see Voldemort's face leering back at them through the window. Hermione shivered and moved closer to Ron. A few minutes later, he spoke._

"_We can't tell Harry now, can we?"_

_Hermione shook her head._

"_Later. I promise later, Ron. But for now, he needs to know that we're there for him."_

_"Right." Ron said, feeling angrier at the world then he ever had before. _

"_I wanted to tell him so badly." Hermione whispered. Ron swallowed a lump in his throat._

"_Me too."_

_"I'm scared."_

_"Me too."_

"_I'm tired."_

_"Me too."_

_"I'm complaining too much."_

_"Me too."_

_"Oh, shut it, Ron."_


	9. Chapter 9

There was one thing Ron Weasley needed right now. And that thing was to hug Hermione. He needed to hold on to her like he would never let her go, enclose her in his arms, draw her close enough to smell her hair. In his dreams, her hair always smelled wonderful. He would wake up as if drenched in it, and then realize that it was all his imagination. Her scent was nowhere near him. Instead, it was up in the Girls' Dorm, where Ron was pretty sure no one could appreciate it like he did. Why couldn't he sleep in the same room as Hermione? It didn't even have to be the same bed... just the idea of waking up smelling her...

Now he sounded creepy. God. Good thing he'd realized that before he did something stupid, like casually ask Ginny what shampoo Hermione used. He could almost see the smug, teasing look on his little sister's face at that question. He'd have to be an idiot to ask that one. And once again, the thought of chucking Lavender flitted into Ron's mind, because if he wasn't with her, he could be friends with Hermione, maybe even something more, and then he could sniff her hair all the time without seeming like a pervert. It was a win win, really. To be with Hermione, rid of Lavender, and to not be a pervert. Everyone was happy. Besides Lavender. But if you factored how annoyed Harry and Parvati seemed to be at Lavender and Ron's relationship, more people would be happy then unhappy.

God, his mind was mental.

He briefly wondered why he'd woken up, but then he remembered. He had midnight prefect duty. He and Hermione were going to be relieving some fifth year Gryffindors. Quietly, Ron tip toed into the bathroom and changed into his clothes. Finally, he went to brush his teeth. He stood in front of the mirror in his pajamas and tried to imagine that he was about to break up with Lavender. After glancing around, Ron found a piece of paper and quickly drew on it a pink stick figure with blond hair. Then he taped it to his mirror. After taking a deep breath, Ron began.

"Look, Lavender," he said, folding his hands in an obedient manner. "I can't date you anymore."

He stared at the drawing of his girlfriend, before remembering that it couldn't reply.

"Why, you ask? Well, for starters, we're driving everyone around us up the wall. Seriously. I think Parvati's actually ready to leap _off_ of the wall. That's how bad it is."

He chuckled at his joke, then stopped. Wait a minute. Maybe that was the way the expression was supposed to be used. Maybe his wasn't funny at all. And Ron had thought, all his life, that you used that expression because only crazy people walked on walls! Well, he could ask Hermione later. Oh, no, wait, he couldn't. Since Ron was feeling curious, he plunged on with his breakup speech with more urgency then before.

"Secondly, I'm pretty sickened by the public displays of affection that we're constantly- er- participating in. And, although it was fun to make Hermione jealous at first, now she doesn't even go to the common room anymore, so it's become a moot point. For me at least. Oh, yeah," Ron said, something suddenly dawning on him.

"And that's the third reason I can't go out with you. I fancy someone else. Who? Don't be daft! I fancy..."

The door swung open.

"Hermione!"

"Ron!" Hermione whispered sarcastically. "Why do you need to announce my name? I think I know who I am."

"Sorry." Ron mumbled, because what was he supposed to do, confess that he had just been confessing his love for her to a fake Lavender Brown in the mirror? Hermione glanced at his clothes.

"You're dressed, and we're late. Why didn't you come down to the common room earlier?"

"Why aren't you avoiding me, again?"

"We have prefect duty, oh brilliant one."

"Right." Ron said. "I thought maybe you were done... done... er-"

"Being angry at you?" Hermione hissed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot against the floor. "Yeah, right. Because that's likely to happen very, very soon."

"Good."

"That was sarcastic."

"Oh."

"Any nearer to breaking up with Lavender yet?" Hermione asked casually as they trooped down the staircase.

"Nope." Ron fibbed.

"Well then." Hermione said, and she stalked away coolly. Ron walked silently after her, easily matching her strides. Hermione had never looked angrier. She strode up to McGonagall as fast as she could and said,

"Where will we be patrolling?"

"There's a grassy hillside that's become a popular place for students to do misdeeds. I'd like you to stay there until about three, when you can go to sleep. I don't want you patrolling the corridors any later, got it?"

Hermione and Ron nodded, and McGonagall grimly gave them both lanterns.

"Why'd we stuck with the job?" Ron muttered to Hermione as they walked down the corridors.

"I heard that," McGonagall called back to them. "It's because I trust Miss Granger above all my prefects."

Hermione flushed pleasurably, and Ron rolled his eyes, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to the entrance hall. He knew that she could have protested, but she didn't. Instead, she followed him obediently, seemingly okay with being led anywhere by Ronald Weasley. By the time they were outside, his hand was on her elbow, and it almost seemed as though he could be escorting her to a fancy event. The sky was full of stars and the moon, and a silvery glow illuminated the grounds. They tiptoed along the cool grass, approaching the spot they were supposed to be patrolling. Hermione stood upright there, surveying the area. Ron, on the opposite, flopped onto the grass, sitting there and looking up at the sky happily.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked. "We're on prefect duty!"

"No one is here." Ron pointed out.

"So?"

"So, you can't stand for the next three hours! That would be ridiculous."

Hermione dithered on the two options for a second before picking Ron's scenario. She sat slowly on the grass, then leaned back. Her hair fanned out behind her, and Ron's breath caught in his throat.

"Jesus, Hermione, what are you doing to me?" he muttered to himself. Then he spoke louder. "Can I- er- lie down, too?"

"By all means." Hermione said, sounding more relaxed then she had in a long time. Ron lay down quickly next to her. His arm was pressed against hers, and even the littlest touch made his breath hitch again. He glanced sideways at Hermione. She smiled sadly at him. "Maybe we can talk. Just during prefect duty. Not in class or anything."

"Did you have fun with McLaggen?" Ron asked resentfully.

"Wrong subject, Weasley."

"I'll take that as a yes, but you don't want to admit it."

Hermione sounded tired now.

"Do whatever you want, Ron. I... can't care."

"Can't?" Ron frowned. "What does that even mean?"

"Nothing."

"C'mon! You're Hermione! You can do anything!"

Her mouth quirked up at his words, but she didn't let on to anything.

"I can't. If I could, I would have told you already."

"Told me what?" Ron asked, flipping over onto his stomach and staring into her moonlight face.

"That..." she took a deep breath. "You have mustard on your shirt."

Ron glanced down. There was nothing there.

"Hermione!"

"Made you look?" Hermione said weakly. Her face inched closer to his. And then, suddenly, it was gone, as she went back to look at the sky.

"What are you thinking?" Ron whispered.

"I'm just wishing things were different. I wish we were still friends. I wish I could look at you without feeling hurt in every bone of my body."

"Why are you hurt, though?" Ron asked, frustrated.

"You treated me so badly!" Hermione said. "And, also, the Lavender thing is really annoying."

"Are you jealous?" Ron taunted.

"No!" Hermione insisted. "Of course not. You're like my brother. It's not as if _Cormac _were dating her."

Ouch.

"Just when I thought we were making progress," Ron muttered angrily.

"There can be no progress while Lavender is in the picture!" Hermione snapped at him. "Now shut up and look at the bloody stars!"

Startled into obedience, Ron did just that. But it wasn't long before he fell right asleep.

"_Ron! RON! Hermione's car is here!"_

_There was a loud crash from above, and the sudden sounds of footsteps clomping down the staircase. Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened at the sight of her excited son, almost bowling Ginny over in his eagerness to get to the door._

_"Ron!" Ginny cried resentfully._

_"Sorry! Sorry."_

_"I know you're excited, but watch where you're going, will you?"  
><em>

"_Sure, sure. How do I look?" _

"_Gorgeous." Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "For you, at least."_

_"Thanks, Ginny."_

_"Mmhmmm."_

_Mrs. Weasley watched this exchange with a befuddled expression on her face. Why did she feel like she was missing something big? But her thought train was interrupted by the sound of Ginny shrieking happily and running at her bushy-haired friend for a hug. Hermione laughed a twinkling laugh and hugged Ginny back._

_"I'm so glad you're here! It's so boring with just Ron and order members to hang out with! I need a girlfriend here. But, of course, there's this awesome order member named Tonks, and she's fun to be around."_

_Hermione looked like she didn't exactly know what to do with this information, so she patted Ginny on the shoulder and went to hug Mrs. Weasley. _

"_Thank you for inviting me! The muggle world was starting to drive me crazy."_

_"I can imagine. Glad to have you, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, releasing Hermione. Now she was directly in front of Ron. The two stared at each other awkwardly. Finally, Hermione said,_

"_Hi, Ron."_

_"Hi, Hermione." Ron said. And that was the end of that. Mrs. Weasley looked at the children with surprise on her face. Ron and Hermione weren't the most into showing their affection for each other, but usually they were better then that. They were almost indifferent, bordering on cold. There was an awkward pause, and then Mrs. Weasley said,_

_"Well, Ronnie, why don't you carry Hermione's bags up to her room?"_

_"Don't call me Ronnie," Ron mumbled as he picked up Hermione's suitcase. Hermione followed behind Ron, and Mrs. Weasley watched them walk up to Hermione's room. When they were in, the door shut. She tip toed up the staircase and suddenly heard the sound of a giggle, a squeal of,_

"_Ron! PUT ME DOWN!" and the deep laughter of her youngest son. Molly backed against the wall, her eyes wide. Dear god. Ron, Ronnie, ickle Ronniekinz... had a girlfriend. He was dating Hermione. When Molly started to hear the sounds of kissing, she backed down the staircase. Ginny was seated in a chair at the kitchen table, talking to Tonks, who had just gotten out of a meeting._

"_Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley's shocked voice said. "Do you know about-?"_

_"Wait, do you know?" Ginny asked, getting up. _

___"What do you know?" They asked each other at the same time._

"_On three," Tonks suggested, grinning. "One, two-"_

_"RON AND HERMIONE ARE DATNG!" Mrs. Weasley and Ginny said at the same time. _

"_There we go," Tonks said, leaning back and looking satisfied._

_"Yes!" Ginny squealed. "Now I'm not the only person who knows!"_

_"Doesn't everyone else?"_

_"No," Ginny, said, shaking her head. "They're worried about Harry's reaction, especially because of how crappy his life is right now."_

_"Understandable. But why couldn't they tell me?"_

_"Would a bunch of people be able to keep it a secret from Harry? No, absolutely not. It would be super hard. So they just told me, because I clam up in front of him anyways. And because I'm Hermione's best friend that's a girl."_

_Tonks made a sympathetic tutting noise._

"_Come on, Ginny. We're going to get you to start talking in front of Harry by the end of the summer!"_

_"Yeah, that's likely."_

_"No, really."_

_"Alright, what does she do to make herself less nervous?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking amused._

_Tonks bit her lip. "Er- try imagining him in his underwear." Ginny let out a loud giggle. "No, never mind, that's only for public speaking, that doesn't work when you're talking to your crush."_

_"Thanks for the idea," Ginny remarked cheerfully._

_"Tonks." Mrs. Weasley scolded resentfully._

_"Don't worry, mum. I promise not to imagine Harry James Potter in his underwear."_

_"Maybe someday you'll see the real deal!" Tonks said encouragingly. _

"_TONKS!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked. _

_"Sorry, sorry!" Tonks wailed. "I keep forgetting she's only thirteen."_

_"Almost fourteen." Ginny added. _

_Mr. Weasley strode into the kitchen._

_"Hi, Molly. How's your day been?"_

_"Good," Molly said, kissing her husband on the cheek. "Did you know that Ron and Hermione are dating?"_

_"No," Mr. Weasley said mildly. "But I'm not too surprised." _

_There was a giggle and a thump from upstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley exchanged alarmed glanced. Tonks and Ginny burst into laughter, falling over each other._

"_Do you think we'll have to give Ron the talk soon?" Mr. Weasley muttered to his wife ._

"_And Hermione." Mrs. Weasley told him. There was a pause._

_"Noses!" they both said simultaneously. _

"_It was me." Mrs. Weasley said proudly. _

"_No, me!" Mr. Weasley said desperately. _

_"Who was it?" Mrs. Weasley demanded, turning to Tonks and Ginny._

_"It was pretty even," Tonks said, frowning seriously. _

_"You do it!" Mrs. Weasley demanded of Mr. Weasley._

"_Er-"_

_"Let us do it!" Fred said, striding into the kitchen. _

"_How do you know what we're talking about?"_

_"We heard."_

_"You heard us talking?"_

_"No. We heard Romeo and Juliet upstairs." George smirked. "It's always the quiet ones," he added to Fred, and the twins snickered. Ginny dissolved into giggles._

_"I guess I'll do it." Mrs. Weasley sighed, putting down her dish towel._

_"Oh, I don't think they're quite there yet, Molly," Mr. Weasley said reassuringly. "Right?" he asked the twins, who both nodded. _

"_They're participating in normal fifteen year old activities... and, don't forget, Hermione's sixteen in a month and a half."_

_"Right." Mrs. Weasley said bracingly. "Well, I suppose that's good."_

_There was silence in the kitchen. Then Ginny said,_

"_They make each other happy. I mean, they bicker like no other, but they need each other and they lean on each other. Plus, they've missed each other these past few months, and they've both been quite afraid. I think they have an excuse to be snogging."_

_Everyone in the kitchen turned red except for the twins, who's grins broadened identically. _

"_Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?" Mr. Weasley asked. _

_But over the next few days, the order members were having a difficult time pretending to be the oblivious bystanders they were supposed to be. Mrs. Weasley walked in on Ron and Hermione __snogging in the kitchen twice, and once Mr. Weasley caught them together in the drawing room. Tonks kept on stumbling upon their hiding places because she kept getting lost in the big house, and it was always a dead giveaway to where Ron and Hermione were when she did so, because she came back with her face bright red. On the night that Harry used underage magic, Ron and Hermione were, once again, unable to be found._

"_Does anyone know where tweedledee and tweedledum are?" George asked, walking into the kitchen where everyone was seated, looking as though they all had a terrible headache. _

"_You sent us to find them about an hour ago, but not even we can find them."_

_Everyone shook their head no. Sirius glanced up._

_"Just out of curiosity, which one is which?"_

_"Well, obviously Hermione couldn't be anything that was remotely related to dum." George reasoned. _

"_So Hermione's Tweedledee and Ron's Tweedledum." _

"_Fair enough," Lupin agreed, catching Tonk's eye and grinning. She grinned back, blushing. "Hey, Dora, why don't you go try to find something, get lost, and find Ron and Hermione for us?" he suggested._

"_Okay!" she said eagerly, getting up._

"_He was kidding, Tonks," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, cousin."_

"_Right. Well, it's worked in the past." Tonks said defensively._

"_It has." Fred said to the room at large._

"_What's going on?" Ron and Hermione asked, walking into the room._

"_Ah, it's Tweedledee and Tweedledum!" George said eagerly. _

"_Hey!" Ron said. "That's not nice!"_

_"Well, actually, that depends. Which of us is which?"_

_"Ron's Tweedledum, you're Tweedledee." everyone replied in unison._

"_Well, it's fine then." Hermione said, smirking at Ron. Now that Mrs. Weasley looked closer at her, she thought that the young woman had never looked happier in her life, in spite of the fact that there was a war about to begin. As a married woman, Mrs. Weasley decided that this was a good thing. She instantly became proud of Ron for making Hermione that way._

"_What's happened?" Ron asked._

"_Harry performed underage magic and is facing expulsion." Mr. Weasley said quietly. _

_Ron and Hermione stared at him, stunned. _

"_Luckily, he's gotten a trial. It was a patronus charm in front of a muggle... he says someone's sent a dementor after him, but obviously the ministry wouldn't order one after him, so-"_

_"Are you suggesting that Harry's lying?" Ron demanded hotly. _

"_Of course not!" Hermione said. She raised her hand, about to put it on Ron's arm, but then she seemed to remember that they were in front of everyone and lowered it. "They're merely telling us that we're in a bit of a predicament."_

_"Thank you, Hermione." Lupin said, nodding at her approvingly. _

"Weasley! Granger! Wake up!" McGonagall's voice barked. Ron's eyes shot open. He was lying on the grass, his hand inches away from Hermione's.

"What happened?" Ron asked stupidly.

"I'd like to ask the same question."

"We must have fallen asleep," Hermione said in a small voice, rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry, Professor. It's so late... and with everything that's been going on lately."

"You're right. Absolutely right. I'll get a seventh year prefect to take care of this. With everything that's happening in your lives, you don't need this right now."

She turned around and briskly walked away. Ron and Hermione scampered after her, and she led them to the portrait hole.

"Goodnight, you two," McGonagall said. They climbed through the portrait hole, and paused at the landing where the boys and girls dormitories separated.

"Wow. We would have been horny little suckers, wouldn't we?" Ron said. Hermione let out a snort, clapped her hand over her mouth, then said, "Goodnight, Ron," and dashed up the steps to her dorm.


	10. Chapter 10

In all of Ron Weasley's life, he had never wanted to go back to school more. No, really. He was abhorring the fact that it was Christmas time, and that was absolutely wrong! No one wanted to be at school! A proper person spent their time dreading going back. He was starting to feel like Hermione. He was sure Hermione was sitting in her house right now, staring hopefully out the window as if the Hogwarts Express was about to come right outside of it and bring her back to school. Either that, or she was curled up on the window seat, reading a very good book. The was how he always pictured her, at least. Pining after school, ready and waiting for the new term to commence. But, actually, now that Ron thought of it, Hermione was probably dreading going back to school as much as Ron missed it. After all, her life was a bit awful right now. He was nearly positive that Hermione was jealous of him and Lavender. Although not totally and completely positive... maybe ninety-five percent. Or eighty? Or perhaps seventy two? Well, he was defiantly not less sure then fifty percent.

Sighing, Ron glumly rolled over in his bed. For the first time in a long time, he was unable to sleep. It had all started on the last day of class, when Hermione inquired as to whether or not they would be using the potion during winter break. Slughorn had announced to them that they would not, and that this was for two reasons. First of all, he didn't want them to overdose on the potion. Second of all, Slughorn was under the opinion that the potion was a good thing, and that too much of a good thing was bad. From the way he stared at Ron while he said it, Ron thought that Slughorn might have an ulterior motive.

The youngest Weasley was decidedly under the impression that his potions master didn't want something big to happen in the dream sequence, and have Ron and Hermione unable to be together. Seeing as Sluggy was betting so much money on the two of them, Ron thought that he was worried about his plan failing if they weren't together. Ron still found it impossible to believe that Slughorn was putting them all through this just for a bet. Didn't the professor understand that some sixth years were feeling a bit suicidal over this? Neville was going crazy, Harry was becoming even more fixated on Draco Malfoy then he would have if he didn't need a distraction. At first, Ron had thought that this was just a coincidence, and that all sixth years had to go through it. But he'd questioned several seventh years and even Fred and George. None of them had even heard of the potion.

"Ron?"

A voice spoke from his right, and Ron glanced over, surprised.

"Wha-? Oh, Harry! Sorry, mate, forgot you were there."

"It's like a drug isn't it?"

"What? Oh, my mum's cooking? Yeah, I really miss it when I go to-"

"No, Ron, not your mother's cooking. Although now that you mention it..."

Ron raised his eyebrows, surprised.

"What is, then?"

"Slughorn's Potion." Harry whispered.

The red-head's eyes almost popped out of his head. Harry had never really initiated a conversation with him about the potion. It was something no one generally talked about. It was too personal. Now wide awake, Ron turned back onto his other side to see Harry's green eyes almost glowing up at him in the dark.

"Yeah. I get that. I mean, I physically need it right now. I'm going mad without it. Sleep has become preferable to life."

"It's like an unpredictable film that you just have to know the end of." Harry said.

"Film?"

"It's a muggle thing. You wouldn't understand."

"Oh. Okay. Well..."

"What do you see?"

"Will you tell me what you see?" Ron challenged. Harry hesitated.

"Yes."

Ron swallowed before saying,

"It's what my life would be like if I had asked Hermione to the Yule Ball instead of Viktor Krum. Right now, we're around fifth year, and we're still together, which surprises me. I was a bit of an idiot back then."

"You still are, Ron."

Silence. Then,

"Yeah, you're right."

"I'm not surprised, actually," Harry said. "Hermione somehow... ages you. She makes you better. If you started going out with her, I'm sure you'd mature faster."

"Maybe."

"You make her different, too."

"Really?" Ron said hopefully.

"Yeah. Around you, she's more... fun, really. You bring out the side of her she's almost afraid to let loose."

"Who are you, Freud?"

"Huh?"

"You know, that muggle psychiatrist Hermione told me to go to. I should probably get that floo number."

"First of all, what part of muggle don't you understand?" Harry asked with laughter in his voice. "Second of all, Freud is dead. And, third, I don't know. I guess I think a lot more because of everything that's going on right now. I mean, I'm learning all this crap about Voldemort-"

"_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_!" Ron hissed.

"-And I'm seeing what my life would be like if my parents hadn't been killed."

"I knew it!" Ron said triumphantly. "How is it, then?"

Harry didn't respond for a while. Finally, he said, quietly,

"I'd rather have not known. It's too good. It makes me absolutely loathe my life. I mean, it seems almost perfect. My mum- she's great. She bakes cakes and she loves my dad with a passion. And I have this little sister named Rose. You know, to continue with the flower names."

"Rose is a good name," Ron yawned. "If I ever have a little girl, I might name her Rose."

"Er- right then," Harry said. "Since when were you thinking about having babies?"

Ron frowned.

"Dunno. I'm a Weasley, aren't I? It's sort of a given."

"Point taken."

Ron turned onto his other side.

"I'll tell you one thing, though. Never do I ever imagine having them with Lavender."

"Who do you imagine having them with?"

Ron turned red.

"I'd rather not say"

"I know anyways."

"Who, if you're so smart?"

"Oh, I am."

"Who?"

"Krum!" Harry said teasingly. Ron threw a pillow at him.

"In his dreams." he muttered, and Harry laughed harder.

"Damn straight, Ron. Damn straight."

Ron fell asleep only to dream a positively epic dream about a Viktor begging Hermione to have his babies. But then Hermione shook him off and told him that she was married to Ron. By the time he woke up, Ron was shocked at the way his brain worked. Sure, he'd thought about having a future with Hermione, but somehow he'd never thought of her in a white dress. He'd always thought of her wearing... well, less then that, really. He was a sixteen year old boy. None of them were perfect, and Ronald Weasley was quite far from it. But he'd grown enough over the past few years to want Hermione less for the fact that he found her absolutely gorgeous. He wanted her now because she was the most fascinating, hilarious, brilliant, engrossing teenage girl he'd ever met. And- for the love of merlin- she was Hermione! If that wasn't enough to make someone want to be with her, Ron didn't know what was.

"Hey, Ron, this is for you." Harry said, tossing Ron a brightly wrapped gift. Ron ripped it open without looking at the tag. My sweetheart. The gift was a necklace that said My Sweetheart. Ron stared at it.

"Do... do you actually like that?"

"Depends," Ron said gruffly. "Is it from Lavender or Hermione?"

Harry snorted.

"I think it's from your girlfriend, Won Won."

"Call me that one more time-"

"WON WON!"

"Harry, I swear to god-"

"If you attack me I'll tell Hermione that you wanted the present to be from her!" Harry yelled after a while of Ron chasing him threateningly around the room.

"Ouch. You wouldn't!"

"I might."

"Please."

Mrs. Weasley burst into the room.

"I heard... voices. And running. Dear god, what is that monstrosity you're holding, Ron?"

"It's- er- a necklace that says My Sweetheart."

"Who gave it to you? Hermione?"

"My girlfriend."

"Hermione's your girlfriend?"

"He wishes." Harry muttered.

"Mum, I'm dating Lavender Brown."

"What the-?"

"That's what I said," Ginny said, coming into the room behind her mother.

"Well... why are you dating Lavender Brown if you're in love with Hermione?"

"I'm not!"

"You are!" the three of them shouted simultaneously.

"Does this mean I shouldn't have sent her a Weasley sweater?"

"You sent her a-?" Ron asked in a high voice.

"Yes, and I put your name on the package."

"MUM!"

"Kidding... Won Won."

"MUM!"

"Sorry. I heard Harry call you that and it was too good."

"You had to give me the worst name ever?"

"Hermione likes it."

"Well, maybe it isn't so bad."

"Ah. That's what I thought."

***

The holidays were over, and Ron returned to Hogwarts quite happily. He knew that he was coming back to a place where Lavender was his girlfriend and Hermione was mad at him, but he also knew that he was returning to a place where he had great dreams. Granted, the one where Hermione had turned Viktor Krum down for him was pretty awesome. But, still... it wasn't the same. That one would never happen. And the dreams Ron had with aid of the potion were at least plausible, and had a realistic edge to them. That said, he snogged Lavender for a very little amount of time before telling her that he needed to go to bed.

"What's making you so tired? We've been on break, Won Won."

"Yeah... but... er... Harry was really annoying. He kept me up all night. Kept on throwing stuff at me." Ron improvised. It was no surprise that Lavender looked across the room and glared at Harry as he talked to Hermione.

"They're looking cozy." she noted suddenly.

_You stupid, horrible, ungrateful, selfish-_

"Yeah. Maybe they're friends." Ron said sarcastically.

"Have I touched a nerve, Won Won?" Lavender said testily.

Feeling that he needed to do a bit of damage control, Ron attempted to clear all sarcasm from his voice before he said,

"Of course not. I only have eyes for you."

_Gag. Retch. LIE!_

"Won Won!" Lavender squealed, before tackling him again and starting the whole process all over again.

Ron managed to get away from her an hour later when he told her he really needed to take a shower before he went to bed, and then hurried up the staircase as fast as he possibly could. As soon as the door was open, Ron's eyes flew over to his bedside table. On it lay a portion of the purple potion that he knew so well. He pumped his fist into the air and ran to get ready for bed. The house elves, bless them, had already unpacked all his things, so Ron was able to quickly find his pajamas and toothbrush. He forced himself to sing the school song twice over before he could spit out the paste and hop into bed. Finally, he took the potion, pulled the covers over himself, and fell into sleep.

"_YOU'RE A PREFECT?" _

_Hermione's excited shriek practically made the whole house shake, and Ron resisted the urge to clap his hand over her mouth just to decrease the volume._

"_Yes." he whispered, attempting to be a contrast to Hermione._

"_OH, RON, I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!" _

"_Well, if they didn't know that we're dating before, they certainly do now," Ron muttered under his breath before someone with wildly bushy hair launched herself into his arms and began kissing along his jawline. Ron smirked. Hermione always liked it when he did well. If ever she was trying to make him understand something and he succeeded, he was always rewarded handsomely. It was so easy to loose himself in her, to just give up and stop caring about everything that was bad in the world. The only thing that would ever register in his mind was what her hair smelled like, what her lips felt like on his, what it was like to have her small body pressed up against his lanky one. He'd grown over the summer, and it had become harder to kiss her, but that didn't stop Ron. Hermione was the best part of his day, and he would bend over backwards for her. Which was what it might come to if he kept on getting so much taller then his girlfriend._

_The next day, as they hugged their families goodbye, Ron thought he caught is mother sneaking Hermione an extra hug, and whispering something in her ear that caused Hermione to blush. When he asked Hermione about it later, she shrugged, smiled, and wouldn't give anything away. The two headed down to the prefects compartment together, and were greeted by the sight of a bunch of other new prefects that looked just as nervous as they did._

"_What's Weasley doing here?" Malfoy asked pompously. _

_"I'm a prefect, Malfoy," Ron said contemptuously. Draco looked up, surprised._

"_Are you, now? Finally beat Potter at something? Good for you, Weasel! I expect they'll start calling you the-shadow-who-conquered any day now. Your Order of Merlin will be in the mail soon."_

_"Lay off, Malfoy!" Hannah Abbott said angrily. "I'm sure Ron will make a great prefect."_

_"Although, I must say, it is a surprise that-" Ernie started, but Hannah jabbed him in the side and he fell silent. Hermione glanced at Ron, not sure what to say. Hannah had pretty much covered her speech, and she couldn't comfort him as anymore then a friend in front of their peers. It was a terrible side effect of having a hidden relationship. Instead, Hermione sat down and leaned slightly into Ron when he sat down next to her. This was small, but it seemed to make him happy, and pretty soon he pulled a piece of paper out of his bag and started happily scratching away at it with a spare quill. In fact, he was scratching with such enthusiasm, Hermione had to lean over his shoulder and look at it just to see what he was doing._

_"Ron... what is this?" she asked, looking at a list of different places in Hogwarts Ron was making._

"_It's a list of places we can sneak off to when we want to be alone," Ron breathed. "Good, eh?"_

_"Er- brilliant. Add the library, will you?"_

_"No. Never. What would I want to do in the library?" _

_Hermione gave him a pointed look, then said to the general room,_

"_Did you hear about Fleur Delecour and her Yule Ball date in the library last year?"_

_Everyone nodded._

"_They didn't even get caught," Padma Patil said admiringly. _

"_And why's that?" Hermione asked. _

"_The bookshelves are so thick, it'd be impossible for Madam Pince to hear or see them." Anthony Goldstein replied. Hermione was jostled to the side as Ron moved quickly to write the library down on his piece of paper._

_But as the week went on, it became apparent that sneaking around was not as easy as Ron and Hermione had initially thought. It had been easier in fourth year, when they'd seen an end to their covertness in sight. But now, they had no idea when it was going to end, just that they had to do it. And, in the meantime, Hermione was already so stressed out about the O. she barely wanted to so much as look at Ron, much less sneak off with him when Harry was busy with something else. Frustrated with the lack of private time they were spending together, Ron decided to figure out something else to do with his time. And that was when he fully made the decision to try out for Quidditch. The next few weeks were actually quite good for both Ron and Hermione. While they were never really together, they were both doing their favorite things. It wasn't until three nights before tryouts that Hermione even knew where Ron was going every night. It was a very strange time to have the conversation, really, as Hermione was pressed up against the wall and Ron's shirt was half off. But, still, the words escaped the brunette's lips before she could think about it. _

"_What do you do when I'm studying every night?"_

_"I'd rather not talk about it."_

_But this did nothing but intrigue Hermione. She ducked out from under Ron's arms, crossed her arms, and gave him a glare. Ron sighed, pulled his shirt down, and let the tips of his ears turn red. He wasn't looking at Hermione when he mumbled something._

"_What was that?" Hermione asked. "I didn't quite catch it."_

_"I've been practicing."_

_"For _what_?" Hermione questioned, now starting to get frustrated._

_"I'm- er- going to try out for Quidditch." _

"_Really?" Hermione said lightly. "That's great, Ron. You're really good."_

_"Well, I hope so," Ron said. "That's why I'm practicing a lot." _

"_Can I come watch you?"_

_"No."_

_"Can I watch you try out?"  
><em>_  
>"No."<em>

_She didn't listen to either thing he said. The next three nights, Hermione bundled up, grabbed her homework, and sat there reading while Ron protected the hoops from quaffles Hermione enchanted to fly at him. Every once in a while, she'd look up and watch him do what he loved. His face was screwed up in determination, his hair nearly blending into the sunset as it blew in the wind. And she always smiled. There was nothing sexier then a confident man, and Ron Weasley was no exception. Unfortunately, his confidence flew out the window on the day of the tryouts. He was pale all day, and Hermione held his hand under the table during every class just to keep him from exploding. Ron begged her not to come down to the pitch and watch, so, feeling quite put out, Hermione made a point of not putting her jacket on and settling down in her chair as Ron got ready to go. Just as he was about to leave, she hurried over to him._

"_Just remember, Ron, I know you can do it! And no pressure. It doesn't matter whether or not you make the team. You're amazing either way."_

"_Thanks." Ron muttered, turning red, and Hermione kissed his cheek before sending him off to the tryouts. She sighed as soon as the door to the portrait closed, and went over to Ginny, who looked amazed._

_"I can't believe you're doing all this just to keep Harry happy." _

"_He's our best friend. We have to."_

_"You don't have to. It's a little ridiculous, actually."_

_"Look, he has enough going on in his life without having to worry about our relationship status."_

_"Your relationship status has been pretty solid for ten months, I'd say." Ginny told Hermione. _

"_I know, I know. But... I mean... why should Harry have to worry about the fact that Ron told me he loved me once and has never said it again?"_

_"The prat!" _

_"It's okay! I mean, he said it way too fast. We'd been dating for two months."_

_"And you'd known each other for nearly four years. Did you say it back?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Well, I'm sure he does love you. I think he's just to shy to say it."_

_"Yes, that's it."_

_"And you love him." Ginny said as if that settled the matter. Hermione groaned and stood up._

"_I can't stand not knowing. I'm sneaking down to the tryout."_

_Hermione got her coat, gloves, and hat and hurried down to the Quidditch Pitch. She could actually see Ron, Fred, and George from quite far away because of their hair. From the looks of it, Ron wasn't doing too good. Hermione bit her lip and walked faster. She hurried in to the stands and watched for about ten minutes before a frustrated looking Angelina Johnson called a time out. Then, Hermione sneaked down to where Ron was sitting, grabbed his arm, and pulled him behind the bleachers. _

_"Wha- Hermione? What are you-?"_

_Hermione put a gloved finger on his lips to stop him. She was going to try something._

_"Listen, Ron. Remember when I said that it didn't matter if you made the team or not?"_

_"Er- yeah."_

_"I lied."_

_"What?"_

_She took two fingers and slowly walked them up Ron's chest. Then she looked at him innocently._

"_You know, now that I think about it, it might be kind of hot to have a boyfriend on the Quidditch team."_

_"Er-"_

_But before Ron could figure out how to respond to this, Hermione gave him her special occasion kiss, the kind that usually made his knees weak. _

"_You had to kiss me like that right before I got on a broom?" Ron asked once she'd pulled back._

_"You wouldn't have a problem, it's not like you need to use your legs."_

_"Not what I was worried about. And I can't believe you lied to me about coming!"_

_Still, as Hermione watched Ron get told he was going to be the keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, she couldn't help thinking that sometimes a little disobedience didn't hurt._


	11. Chapter 11

"Mr. Weasley, may I ask why you have not completed your homework?" an irritated Slughorn asked.

"Er- what homework?" Ron asked, breaking out of a daydream in which Hermione had kissed him the way she'd kissed him in his dream, except much, much longer.

"The one about the stinkcap potion."

"Oh. Er- I just- er."

"Why didn't you do it, Weasley?" Slughorn said dangerously.

"I was... sleeping."

"You were sleeping?" Hermione and Slughorn said at the same time.

"Why on earth would you be asleep?" Slughorn demanded.

"Did you get ahead of me in the dream?" Hermione questioned angrily.

"You two are having the same dream?" Harry inquired, shocked.

"Yes, of course they are!" Slughorn said impatiently.

"I think I did... but that depends on what was the last thing you saw."

"The last thing I saw was the time that-"

"Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, I implore you to have this discussion sometime, but please do not do it in my potions classroom. Mr. Weasley, I understand that this dream can be very exciting, but that is no excuse for abandoning your homework. I'm sure all of the teachers will back me up when I say that it is no use to waste your time questioning what could have been."

"Then what are we doing with these dreams?" Hermione asked, agitated.

"The other teachers won't agree at all, Professor. See, the only homework I haven't been doing is yours."

"Well... why?"

"Because... well... what do you think? My life in the dreams is so much better then doing the bloody homework you've assigned us!"

"Mr. Weasley!" Slughorn said, shocked.

"I know about your scheme." Ron whispered fiercely.

"Scheme?" Slughorn said fearfully.

"Scheme?" Hermione said blankly.

"You two are having the same dream?" Harry asked again. "Seriously? And you still haven't-?"

"Mr. Weasley, I would like to see you after class. You may have a pass on your homework. Do not let it happen again."

Hermione spun around and looked at Ron, her eyes boring into him.

"What scheme?" she asked. "Is Slughorn... bad?"

"No, he's not a death eater or anything." Ron whispered, waving his hand nonchalantly.

"Well then what?" Hermione asked as she furiously cut up the cucumber they were going to be using for a beauty potion.

"It's nothing." Ron muttered, taking her bits of cucumber and tossing them into the cauldron. "Where are the oranges?"

"What _scheme_, Ron?"

"Aren't you supposed to be not talking to me?" Ron inquired innocently, grabbing a piece of mermaid fin and plopping it into the potion.

Hermione continued to glare at Ron throughout the lesson, obviously trying to get him to break without talking to him. He attempted the ignore the way his skin was prickling at her gaze and desperately tried to extinguish the little flame in his stomach that told him she might like him back. What was the point of hoping? He'd just be crushed... he was convinced that there was no way it could ever happen, even though there were a lot of signs indicating that it could. When the class was dismissed, Ron obediently went to Slughorn's desk, anger starting to brew inside of him again.

"Now then, Mr. Weasley. I would like to know what scheme you are referring to, if you please."

"The bet you have going with the other teachers. You put money on me and Hermione getting together by the end of the year."

"And you don't want that?"

"No! Well, I mean... no, of course not. I have no romantic feelings for Hermione what-so-ever!"

"Mr. Weasley, your feelings for Miss Granger are quite obvious. And, aside from that, I know what your dreams are about and you just told me you like them better then your real life. I'm afraid we have no secrets anymore."

"Brilliant," Ron muttered. "Still, what a stupid reason to give us a class assignment that drives all of us crazy!"

"It's character building." Slughorn said placidly.

"Have you seen Neville? He's bloody loosing character!"

"Do not swear in front of me, Mr. Weasley. I understand that you're angry, but-"

"No but! You've bet on my love life! You've interfered with my love life! And that is messing up my general... life. Don't you get how hard it is to be sixteen and in love with your best friend?"

There was a sudden intake of breath, and Ron turned around just in time to see a large amount of bushy hair whipping around the corner, running away. Slughorn, looking complacent, said,

"Well, go after her, Weasley."

Torn between the desire to run in two different directions, Ron finally took the cowardly one and made his way back up the Gryffindor tower. He knew that Hermione would be at dinner, and he didn't think he could possibly face her. She had just heard him confess that he fancied her! Not only that, but he had actually said that he was in love with her. How could this possibly be good?

No, wait. How could it be bad? Hermione knew that he loved her, and she probably loved him. Or else why would she have spied? Actually, Ron could think of several reasons why Hermione would have spied that had nothing to do with a secret passion she might be harboring for him. And he didn't have any proof she felt that way towards him. But if she did, didn't that mean that they could be together? No, it didn't. Ron had Lavender. And it she didn't like him, it would be quite awkward. Their friendship might be damaged beyond repair. Ron knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to look Hermione in the eye anymore, and she'd probably feel awkward around him. But- then- wasn't their friendship already damaged beyond repair? Maybe this wouldn't make it worse. Maybe this would just make it last... longer.

Thinking that he would probably have to figure out how to get himself to actually fall for Lavender, Ron said the password and climbed through the hole. Inside was a beautiful, bushy haired girl, curled up into a little ball, staring at the fire.

"Hermione?" Ron said without thinking. She turned around, her face crumpled in defeat, a few tears on her cheeks. "What's... what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, standing up. Ron began to get flashbacks of Hermione yelling at him majestically, and prepared himself for a fight. "What's wrong? What's wrong is the fact that you are total and complete arse!"

"Er- I see your point there."

"What? Are you agreeing with me?" Hermione asked, her voice getting more and more high pitched.

"Yes." Ron whispered, feeling a bit terrified. Her hair was flying all over the place, her eyes were on fire from her anger, her lips were looking especially red in the light of the common room.

"What is wrong with you, Ron?"

"I know! I know, I'm a total git-"

"Damn straight you are!"

"I promise, though, I won't let my feelings get in the way of our friendship. I know you don't reciprocate, and that's okay-"

Hermione stopped him in his tracks by letting out a scream of fury.

"I don't reciprocate? Are you blind, you stupid arsehole? Are you mental?"

"Probably."

"You have feelings for me and you're putting me through all this crap with the whole Lavender situation? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?"

"I-"

"I'll have you know, Ronald Weasley," Hermione said, shaking with fury as she brushed past him and over to the girls' staircase, "That I do not love you back."

Crushed. That was how Ron felt. He felt crushed. Hermione had just taken her foot and stomped all over every dream he had. Suddenly, he felt like there was no hope for the future. Suddenly, he felt the urge to become a death eater. Suddenly, he felt the urge to kill everybody in sight. Luckily, no one was in the room. But still. He hurried up to his room, watched by a shaking Hermione, and slammed the door shut before leaning on it and letting silent tears roll down his cheeks. He'd accidentally put himself out there, and he'd purposefully been rejected. At the moment, Ron Weasley couldn't think of anything in the world that could be worse. Maybe the cruciactus curse was this painful? It could drive people insane. Ron was being driven insane. He felt like grief was eating up every inch of his body, and he didn't know how he would be able to face his potion. He didn't want to dream about happiness. When he woke up, he'd just be more upset. He stayed there, on the floor, staring blindly ahead until the door wrenched open.

"Ron?"

"Huh?"

"Er- one of the portraits told me what happened."

Ron looked up to see Harry standing above him, looking very sympathetic.

"It hurts." he whispered finally. Harry put his hands in his pockets and looked down.

"I know," he said. "It'll get better. It did for me with the whole Cho fiasco. Although that's not the same."

_No, it's not._ Ron silently agreed. _You weren't in love with Cho. She liked you back, she just couldn't be with you. She didn't outright reject you. _

"Thanks," he said instead. "I think I'll get started on my homework."

Harry watched silently as Ron went down to the common room where he'd left his bag when he dropped it. It was still sitting by the portrait hole, seemingly untouched. He dragged it back up to his dorm and took out his potions book first. As he opened it, a slip of paper fell out. Ron, not even having the energy to do anything but lift a finger, considered leaving it there, on the ground. But he wanted to put off doing his homework anyway, so he bent down and picked it up. Not recognizing the slip, he quickly unfolded it. Inside, it tiny, familiar writing, it read,

_I didn't mean it. _

He knew it was from Hermione. That wasn't the question. The question was, what hadn't she meant? There were several options. She'd called him quite a few names, such as a git, a prat, an arsehole, and mental. Did she not mean one of those? Or was it the last thing she said to him, the thing that had been eating him up all afternoon?

_I'll have you know, Ronald Weasley, that I do not love you back._

He winced at the words. He winced at how much they had hurt him. He winced at how much he still wanted her. Why couldn't he bloody let go? She obviously didn't like his type. She didn't like the type of guy that was a gingery looser with too big a family and too many failed dreams. At almost seventeen. Bloody hell. He was sixteen, and he was already a failure. What was wrong with him? He'd probably end up spending the rest of his life working in Fred and George's shop while Harry and Hermione went on to become some sort of ministry super couple. The people would eat that up. The golden trio would slowly become the golden duo, and the third member would fade into the back, totally and completely forgotten.

What was he for them, anyways? Harry was Harry fricking Potter. Hermione was the smartest witch of her age. They didn't need him for anything. They had it made even without him. What did he do for them? He weighed them down, that was what. He made them laugh when they needed to be focusing. He made them explain things to him when they could be miles ahead. He was the only one who was stopping the golden trio from being completely made of Hs. Honestly. Why did he have to have been named Ron? Maybe that was why Hermione hated him! Maybe it was because they were Harry, Hermione and Ron, instead of something cool, like... Harry, Hermione and Han.

Oh god. Now he was just being ridiculous. What did it matter that his name didn't start with an H? It wasn't like he was going to be spending his life with Hermione, anyways. It wasn't like he was going to be in the way of Hermione getting that perfect life. Harry and Hermione Potter, with their two gorgeous children, Harriett and Herman. The H Potters, Harry, Hermione, Herman, and Harriett. It was sickening.

This thought was making Ron thoroughly miserable, so he completed his homework in something like a trance, then pulled on his pajamas and climbed into bed, almost forgetting to take his potion before falling asleep.

"_Ron, we have to go. It's time for the game." Harry said, trying not to look nervous._

_Hermione turned to Ron and stared into his desperate eyes._

"_You go down, Harry," she said, not taking her eyes off of Ron's. "He'll be right behind you."_

_Harry nodded and quickly left the great hall. Hermione looked around. It was pretty full, but no one was staring at them. Her eyes once again landed on the badges on the Slytherin's chests, and she felt a heart wrenching need to make Ron feel better. She put one of her hands on either of his cheeks and kissed him as passionately as she could muster. _

"_You will be amazing, Ron," she whispered against his lips. "I know you can do it."_

_"I can't," a slightly woozy Ron said, defeated. "I've been rubbish at practice."_

_"I know you can do it!" Hermione insisted, kissing him again._

"_You do realize that everyone can see us," Ron muttered, pulling back._

_"Let's face it," Hermione replied, lifting an eyebrow. "They're all too afraid too talk to Harry, anyways. It doesn't really matter."_

_"True." Ron said, and he went in for a kiss again. Then he stood up to go. Before she could, stop herself, Hermione called out his name, and he turned around, puzzled._

"_Just... don't forget. Whatever the Slytherins throw at you during this game... you're amazing, alright?"_

_"Alright." Ron said, cracking a smile. He left the great hall with a bit of a swagger in his steps, and seemed to walk a bit straighter then he had been a few minutes ago. He stayed in his happy little bubble all throughout his walk down to the pitch, and in the changing room, and as he walked out to the field and kicked off of the ground. As soon as he was up in the air, he spotted Hermione. Her eyes were sparkling in excitement, and she had clipped her hair back in a way he loved. She seemed to know that he was looking at her, because a second later her eyes met his and she smiled prettily at him. Ron suddenly felt relaxed and at ease, like he could do anything. He could do anything, couldn't he? If he could get Hermione Granger and have her stick with him for a year, couldn't he do anything? So when the ball started speeding towards him, he blocked everything out and just concentrated on it. And he got it. It flew to the other end of the pitch and into Katie Bell's waiting arms. Later, after his happy bubble started to burst a bit, he started to hear the Slytherins singing something. Puzzled, he looked over at Hermione, frowning, but she shook her head pointedly, and Ron understood that he was not to listen to the song. Instead, he thought about Hermione. About everything wonderful she'd ever said to him, and that was what got him through the whole Quidditch game without hearing a single verse of whatever song his opponents were singing. _

"For what it's worth, you could _embarrass _me, but you couldn't ever _completely_ embarrass me. There's always a little part of me that knows what a great guy you are even when you're being a bigger prat then Percy."

_Save._

"So, if you absolutely need to, you can call me Mione. But not anyone else. Don't do it around Harry, or he'll want to call me Mione, too."

_Save._

"I think I might be a bit too... giddy. That's what happens when the thing you've been wanting for two years happens. I'm not sure how much longer I could have waited without bursting, in any case."

_Save. _

"I would have waited until we were seventh years if I had to, Ron."

_Save. _

"Ron, you've saved me countless times. Give someone else a chance. He's never been my knight in shining amour. If you understood that, you'd be so much better off."

_Save._

"Because you're so much better then Viktor Krum any day."

_Save._

"Ron, you prat, wake up! I love you too!"

_Save._

_By the time the game was over, the crowd was on its feet, cheering for Ron Weasley, the great Gryffindor keeper. He landed on the ground, his face bright with happiness, and laughed when he saw Hermione speeding across the field to him, her hair streaming behind her, her eyes twinkling at him. She threw her arms around his neck, but didn't kiss him. They both knew that they couldn't be a couple when Harry was around._

_"You were amazing!" Hermione squealed, looking up at Ron with her arms still around his neck. "How did you possibly do that?"_

_"I don't know... I just... you kept me calm. Every time I got nervous, I looked over at you, and when I was trying not to hear what the Slytherins were saying, I just thought of all the stuff you've said to me over the past year that made happy." he whispered, blushing. Hermione just grinned up at him until Harry came up to them and said,_

"_Is there something you're not telling me?"_

_Both of them glanced nervously at each other until Hermione laughed lightly and said, _

_"Of course not, Harry, wherever would you get a silly idea like that?"_


	12. Chapter 12

Hermione and Ron skirted around each other for the next few days, not even brave enough to glance up at the other when the other wasn't looking. If it had been anyone else, Ron would have forgotten what Hermione looked like by the end of the week. Unfortunately, this awkward argument was with Hermione, and the whole thing was a bloody mess. He absolutely hated Slughorn for doing this to him. Ron honestly couldn't tell if the idea of Hermione liking him was still an open option, or if there was no way she could ever want to be with him. The bloody girl was blinding him! It was all so confusing. Lavender had become predictable to him in about ten seconds. All she wanted to do was snog him, and when they weren't snogging she was talking about herself. He didn't know why he put up with it. Lavender Brown wasn't half as pretty as Hermione, and she was ten times more annoying. The closest thing Ron's girlfriend and the girl he fancied had in common with each other was the fact that both their first names had eight letters in them.

But on Sunday night, almost a week after the initial incident, Ron and Hermione had prefect duty together for the first time in a week. It seemed that McGonagall had been gracious, having undoubtedly hearing about their fight from one of the portraits. Harry had done damage control, and, with the help of Lavender, had stopped the rumor from spreading. The difference between the two was the fact that Harry believed the rumor and Lavender absolutely didn't.

"I can't believe that the portrait of Gilly Gandlewater spread that stupid rumor!" she fumed two nights after the fight. "I mean, you don't even talk to Hermione anymore. And suddenly she just comes out with this?"

"I hear she's the great-great-grandmother of Rita Skeeter." Ron fibbed.

"Really?" Lavender said, interested. "I actually really like some of her stuff. It's fascinating. Don't you think?"

"Not really," Ron said wryly. "Although I suppose we have to respect her a little after the interview she gave Harry last year. That was pretty good."

"Right, I remember that!" Lavender said, nodding. "Didn't Granger set it up?"

"Er- I think so. Why?"

"Oh, nothing." Lavender had said, lightly.

And then she'd pounced on him to kiss him and Ron hadn't been able to question her about it again. Still, he wondered if maybe even Lavender was starting to doubt just how platonic his and Hermione's relationship was. Although, if she asked, Ron wouldn't really have been able to say anything incriminating in either direction. He didn't really know either. He knew his own feelings, of course, but whether Hermione was a threat to his and Lavender's relationship was still up in the air. He did know that Lavender was starting to annoy the hell out of him. But she was still keeping Hermione jealous, and she was still someone who wanted to snog him, and, to be frank, he didn't know how to chuck her, anyways.

Sighing to himself, Ron got out of his chair and waved goodbye to Harry, who was working feverishly on a Defense Against Dark Arts essay.

"I'm off to prefect duty." he said gloomily.

"With Hermione?" Harry asked, looking up from his essay with a surprised look on his face.

"Yeah."

"Best of luck."

"We probably won't talk." Ron shrugged, and then he exited the room. As he arrived at the corridor he was supposed to be going to, he tried to think of things to say to Hermione to make everything better. Unfortunately, he couldn't. She was sitting there, looking extra pretty with her robes open to an airy pink blouse, nicely fitting jeans, and her hair clipped into a half ponytail. Ron briefly wondered if she was wearing eyeliner, but couldn't tell. He cleared his throat when he was finished gazing at her, and Hermione looked up.

"Ron?" she said, confused.

"Er- yeah."

"McGonagall told me... oh, that was obviously to get me here."

Ron's heart sank. She didn't look extra pretty for him. She looked extra pretty for someone else.

"Right. Er- maybe I'm in the wrong place."

"No!" Hermione said hurriedly. "I'm sure you're not."  
><em><br>Did she make that whole thing up to make me think she isn't trying for me?_ Ron wondered to himself. But that was totally mental. What kind of person would do that?

"Should I stay on this end of the corridor?" Ron asked, gesturing to the opposite end.

"No, it's okay," Hermione said quietly. "You can come sit next to me if you want."

"Oh. Okay."

Feeling quite nervous, Ron went to sit next to Hermione, immediately noticing as he did so that she was wearing the perfume Ginny had helped him pick out for her in fifth year. He opened his mouth to comment on this, but then decided it might be better if he didn't. Instead, he moved his hand very close to hers and looked at how small Hermione's hand was in comparison to his.

"So, those dreams are really something, aren't they?" Hermione said finally.

"Er-" Ron responded, because he didn't know where to go with this sentence. The thing he honestly wanted to say was, _How could you be having the same dream as I do if you have no feelings for me? Does it signify something different to you, Hermione?_ Luckily, the brunet took in a shaky breath and said,

"My favorite part was with Dumbledore's Army, and how you were afraid to hex me because you didn't want to hurt me."

"It was like that last year, too. I just never told you."

"You should have," Hermione said in a hushed tone of voice.

"There are many things I should have done."

"Ron-"

"Can we not talk about this?"

"Don't you understand? I _need _to talk about this! I'm... I'm going to explode from it all!"

"Discuss it with Ginny," Ron suggested. "It'll be easier for her."

"It isn't the same. She won't understand."

"I don't understand."

"You don't understand what?" Hermione asked.

"Pretty much everything," Ron shrugged.

"I just want to help you, Ron."

"Well, you're making it worse. Hermione, we've never been forward about anything with each other. Why should we suddenly want to talk about the most private thing that's going on in our lives?"

"Because they concern both of us!"

"You don't make any sense to me!" Ron exploded. "If you don't... no, I just... no."

Hermione looked near tears.

"Fine." she said huffily.

Ron glanced over at her. Her head was bent, her eyes were swimming. She always made him feel weak when she cried. Perhaps she knew that from the dreams. Maybe she was taking advantage of what she learned from them. All the same, Ron watched her cry for a few long seconds until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Fine! Fine! Let's talk about the dreams!"

"Really?" Hermione breathed.

"Yeah, really." Ron said grumpily.

"Um..."

Now that they were there, Hermione didn't seem to know how to start. Feeling sorry for her, Ron said, teasingly,

"I liked the way you made me feel better when my dad was in the hospital."

Hermione turned red.

"Yes. It seems that I was very... resourceful. Er... wasn't the Yule Ball funny?"

"Can we not talk about that?"

"_Ron_!"

"Sorry, sorry. Yeah, it was great."

"I liked the part where I fixed your robes."

"I liked the part where you said that you always knew I was a great guy even when I acted like a bigger prat then Percy."

Hermione blushed.

"It's... it's true."

"So you think I'm a great guy even now?"

"Maybe." Hermione whispered.

"Even so far past the Percy category?" Ron questioned. He was looking at Hermione intensely when she looked up at him, and she swallowed hard before nodding. Ron breathed a sigh of relief.

"That doesn't mean I'm not mad at you. I just know the Ron I lo... like... is there. Somewhere."

"He is, I swear," Ron said. "How about the part where you chose me over Viktor Krum?"

"The look on your face was priceless."

"It's true."

"Worth all the heartache these dreams have, caused, really. Now I have that looked permanently banked in the category of my mind labeled 'Ron Weasley's Facial Expressions.'"

"You label your mind categories?" Ron asked. "Weird!"

Hermione looked at him for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter. Ron laughed with her. The two laughed for several minutes until their laughter simply became giggles, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Good point." Hermione said, clutching her side.

"Well, you've always been the more organized one." Ron pointed out.

"That's true!" Hermione agreed lightly. "Maybe one day I'll label your mind for you, and that way you can be just as organized as me without all the work!"

"It's a date." Ron agreed, before turning bright red and glancing away from Hermione. She looked away, too, wondering if Ron could hear her heart thumping, loud as it was going.

"I miss your sense of humor," Hermione said after several awkward minutes. "Sometimes I hear something and expect you to make a joke out of it. I know exactly what you would say if you were there. Or I hear things and bank them to tell you, then remember that we're not talking. And it begins to hur-"

She cut off abruptly, flushing, but Ron knew what she was about to say. Why could she just tell him that it began to hurt all over again? They were just a few words, how could they be so hard to utter? But then he realized that it was for the same reason that he couldn't possibly ask her whether or not she loved him. There were very few words in the sentence, but they would be impossible to say. Ron sighed heavily and placed his head in his hands.

"She doesn't get my humor at all." he whispered.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"She doesn't get it, really." Ron said, louder.

"Who?" Hermione asked. Even though he wasn't looking at her, Ron could picture Hermione knitting her eyebrows together and trying to understand who he was talking about.

"Lavender," he said. "She used to laugh all the time, but after a while she stopped, and I realized that she was only faking it to be a good flirt."

"Oh," Hermione said. There was a pause. Then she said, "How could anyone _not_ get your jokes?"

"Dunno," Ron shrugged, removing his head from his hands. "I'd have thought they were pretty easy to understand."

"Easy? It's _effortless_."

"Well, you are the brightest witch of your age." Ron said, grinning at Hermione and causing her to blush. He loved making her blush. It was definitely preferable to her making him blush. Yuck. He had a feeling that gingers didn't look half as good as fair skinned brunets when they blushed. "Like, the other day in charms-" Ron said, and then he was off, telling Hermione all the brilliant jokes he'd made that his girlfriend hadn't been able to understand. She got each and every one of them, and laughed along with him, both their eyes gleaming appreciatively. That said, it surprised them both when the Head Girl came along and told them that they could go back to their dorm. So Ron and Hermione walked to the tower together, their hands swinging so close they sometimes hit each other. At these points, Hermione and Ron would feel sparks explode in their stomachs, and surreptitiously inch away from the other. Soon, however, they would move close again, and stay that way until it happened all over again.

"Goodnight, Ron." Hermione said as they parted ways on the staircase. The look in her eyes made Ron think that she wanted to hug him or kiss him or anything, but how could that be when she had outright said that she didn't have feelings for him?

_I'll have you know, Ronald Weasley, that I do not love you back._

She looked like she needed desperately to be close to him in any way possible, even a hand squeeze. but it didn't at all make sense.

_I'll have you know, Ronald Weasley, that I do not love you back._

He thought about the note that he now kept in his pocket, the note that he gazed at whenever he needed to.

_I didn't mean it. _

What didn't she mean? Was it supposed to be obvious to him? Was he just supposed to be smart enough to know the total and complete meaning of the note? Was there something crucial that he was missing, something that would help him understand exactly what Hermione Jean Granger did not mean.

"Goodnight."

I'll have you know, Hermione Granger, that I _do_ love you.

"_Neville, it's quite simple, I promise you!" Hermione said, walking speedily down the corridor, side by side with the frantic boy._

_"I swear, Hermione, I don't understand it! And Snape'll give me detention for sure because I can't write this essay!" the round faced boy fretted. _

_"I can't write the whole essay for you," Hermione sighed. "Look, I'll explain it again."_

_But suddenly, her eyes widened, and she let out a little squeal. _

"_What was that?" Neville asked, frowning. Hermione looked over her shoulder, to her left, then to her right._

_"I... I don't know," she said, unsure. "Anyways... oomph."_

_Hermione was suddenly being dragged away from Neville as though someone invisible had clamped his hands around her waist and was pulling her away._

_"Hermione!" Neville said, his hand flying up to his mouth. "Do you need help?"  
><em>

"_No, I'm good!" Hermione said, a strange look suddenly crossing her face as her hair was pushed off of her neck, and she let out a nervous giggle. "I'll meet you back in the common room in a half an hour. OUCH! Fine, an hour. OW! Okay, okay, two hours."_

_She paused as if waiting to see if her invisible capture would disagree. It seemed that he didn't, so Hermione grinned and waved to Neville as she was pulled around the corner._

_"Ron!" she said, trying to sound angry as she reached up and dragged the cloak off of her boyfriend. "You can't just double-side-poke me when you're invisible and I'm in the middle of a conversation with someone. Did you see the look on Neville's face?" _

"_Yeah," Ron said gleefully. His hair was sticking up all over from the cloak, and Hermione couldn't wait to get it even messier. She had a strange adoration for running her hands through his hair while he was snogging her. _

"_I'm serious, Ron!" Hermione said, but she lost her train of thought and let her lips flutter into a sigh as he went to kiss her neck. "Does Harry know you have the cloak?"_

_"Yeah. I told him I was going to the kitchen."_

_"You picked me over the kitchen? I'm honored."_

_"You should be. But I have better ways to occupy my mouth."_

_Hermione's response was smothered when Ron's lips moved up to hers, and she lost herself in the way he tasted and the way he smelled and the way she always thought that her hands were at their best when they were tangled into his hair. They stayed like this for a long time, Ron pressing Hermione against the wall, no coherent thoughts crossing his mind, Hermione considering the joys of being a sixteen year old girl dating the boy she'd wanted since she was twelve. And that was when they heard the shout._

_"What the bloody-?"_

_Hermione and Ron broke apart quickly and looked around. When they saw the cause of the noise, Hermione foolishly jumped behind Ron, as if his tall frame could hide what Harry had already seen. When their best friend spoke, it was in a forced calm voice. He wasn't looking at them._

"_So... Neville seemed to think that Hermione was in a spot of trouble. Told me someone invisible had dragged her off, thought it might have been Peeves. He told me exactly where to go, and, you know, I was thinking to myself that I wished I had Ron and the cloak. And now, looky here. I've killed three birds with one stone."_

_"You're going to kill us?" Hermione squeaked. Harry rolled his eyes, and Ron put his arm around her, hugging her to his body._

"_No, of course not. But... um... what the hell?"_

_"You may want to sit down, mate." Ron said, gesturing for Harry to sit down on one of the benches. He sat down on one, and Hermione and Ron dragged the other closer and sat down on that one. Neither realized that Ron still had his arms clasped on Hermione's waist, but they sat like that, and Harry's eyes flicked there before looking back up at his friends. _

_"So... er... is this a first time snog?"_

_"Not exactly." Hermione said in a high pitched voice._

"_We've sort of been dating since the yule ball."_

_Harry's face remained expressionless. Neither Hermione nor Ron could tell what he was feeling, and this made their approach to the situation blind and unsteady. _

"_A year, then."_

_"A little more, really," Ron said, causing Hermione to stomp on his foot. "Ouch! That hurts, woman!"_

_"I know." Hermione said smugly._

_"GUYS!" Harry roared. "Wh... why would you hide this from me? I'm both of your best friend... aren't I?"_

_"Oh, of course you are, Harry." Hermione said earnestly. _

_"We just didn't want to make you feel like a third wheel." Ron shrugged. _

"_And there was so much going on in your life... we didn't want to make something else you had to worry about."_

_"Why would I worry about you two?"_

_Hermione glanced back at Ron._

"_Well, we've had our ups and downs."_

_"What downs?" Ron demanded. _

"_Remember that time-?"_

_"Hermione?" Harry said. "Can we please get back to the matter at hand? I mean, did you ever consider that you two being together finally might have felt like a light at the end of the tunnel for me? It would have been a good distraction! And it would have shown me that there's still love and hope. Now I just feel like I was a bad friend to you and you were a bad friend to me."_

_"He has a point." Hermione sighed. _

_"Why didn't you think about that?" Ron demanded._

_"ME? Why didn't you think of that?"_

_"Well, everyone knows you're the clever one."_

_"Yes, that's true. Although you're very clever, Ron, and-"_

_Harry cleared his throat again._

_"Sorry." Ron and Hermione said simultaneously._

_Harry rolled his eyes._

"_Great. I already feel like a third wheel." _

"_Not our aim, mate." Ron said firmly. _

"_Good to know," Harry said. "So... you gonna go public now?"_

_Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, silently communicating. Then they both nodded in unison._

_"Cool," Harry said. "But the twin thing is really freaking me out. How're you going to tell?"_

_"Oh, I have an idea." Hermione smirked, slipping her hand into Ron's._

_"I'm scared." he said automatically. "I'm not liking the look of that smirk. Sexy as it is."_

_"Ew." Harry muttered. _

"_Just go with it." Hermione said. Ten minutes later, they were in the common room, sitting on the couch next to Fred and George. _

"_Why are you little ickles sitting next to us?" Fred asked. _

"_No reason." Hermione said innocently, and the two boys turned away. A few seconds later, George said,_

"_By the way, at the next DA meeting... what the...?"_

_For Ron and Hermione were now snogging on the couch right next to them, fast, furious, and absolutely shocking. _

"_RON! YOU'RE SNOGGING HERMIONE!" Fred shouted, as if his little brother hadn't noticed this. The __whole room was silent, staring at them._

"_Oh!" Hermione said, her eyebrows raised delicately. "Didn't you know that we've been dating since the yule ball?"_

_"The yule ball?" Fred yelped. "You're actually _dating?"

"_We knew you guys were having some sort of fling, but we had no idea it lasted this long, and we never expected you to actually tell us." George announced. The whole common room was buzzing. How had Hermione Granger managed to snag the Keeper that every second girl was suddenly after?_

_"Why'd you guys decide to tell?" Ginny asked, walked over to the group._

"_Harry walked in on us snogging," Ron shrugged. "Since he was the only one we were hiding it from, we figured it would be okay to alert the media."_

_"I'll go get a pen. Rita Skeeter will love this." George said._

_"That was a hyperbole!" Hermione said quickly. _

"_That was sarcasm." Fred winked._

"_Welcome to the family," George smirked. _


	13. Chapter 13

"I failed again," Ron said blandly, glancing down at his test grade as though this was hard to believe. Snape's lip curled, and Ron flipped him the bird behind his back. It didn't feel nearly as good as it would have done to his face, but it was still a damn sight better then nothing. In short, Ron Weasley was extremely ticked off. Hermione seemed to be the only person who had gotten full marks, much to the pride of Ron and chagrin of Snape. He could hear Lavender, next to him, sighing about how awful her test grade was; she'd just barely passed. And she was bringing Ron down with her.

"I wonder what Hermione got," Parvati said conversationally.

"One-Oh-Five," Ron told her, before widening his eyes and clearing his throat. Parvati looked down, clearly embarrassed, and Lavender sputtered out a,

"How do you know that? Are you, like, stalking her?"

Ron's eyes swiveled in his head as he tried to come up with a proper answer for this.

"No, look, Lavender, her test score's facing us," Parvati said quickly. "I'm sure Ron wasn't staring at her, he just happened to see the score as he looked around the classroom."

Ron shot Parvati a grateful look, then, for good measure, added,

"I'd bet she's flashing it around just to show off."

He immediately felt terrible as Parvati's eyes nearly shot out of her head and Lavender let out a cackle of laughter.

"Right," Ron mumbled to himself, "These jokes she always gets."

If Ron had said anything like that about Lavender, Hermione would have instantly chided him for it. She'd tell him he was wrong, and that he should be nice to everyone, and then she'd somehow figure out how to bring the whole thing back to house-elves.

Oh, Hermione.

The bell rang, very luckily, and Ron was out of his chair like a shot. He glanced over at Hermione, who was talking to Neville. Instantly, he gritted his teeth and cracked his knuckles. They seemed to be really bonding over this whole experience. What if they got together? No, no one would ever fancy Neville. He was a sissy. Ron didn't even think he'd be able to last three hours at Snitch Flags Wizarding Adventure, and that was generous.

But what if Hermione was into that? The fact that Ron was not her type was already proven, maybe someone else in the school was. Then again, she'd gone out with Cormac McLaggen, and he was nothing like Neville. Oh, god. Were his thoughts really going there?

"This is ridiculous!" Ron said out loud. He began to panic as his outburst registered, but Lavender gave him an approving look.

"Glad you agree," she said. "And you agree with everything I'm saying, that is?"

"Everything," Ron confirmed, while Parvati's eyes widened in alarm.

"You want to rethink that, Ron?" she said.

"Er-?"

"No, he's already said it," Lavender said incredulously to Parvati. "God, what's wrong with you?"

"Um..."

Lavender turned back to Ron.

"I was starting to worry, you know. But if you really agree, that's great."

As they reached the Great Hall, Parvati pulled Ron aside and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's wrong with you? Do you even realize what you agreed to?"

"No, obviously not. I tuned out."

"I know. I saw you staring after Hermione and Neville. God, Weasley, at least try to make it a little less obvious."

"Get on with it, Parvati. What did I agree to?"

She didn't seem to like being spoken to that way, so instead she flashed him a nasty grin.

"I'll give you a hint," she said, her eyes flashing. "It's about Hermione. And it isn't good."

At that last statement, the girl stalked into the hall with her head held high, and Ron walked helplessly after her. Tonight, instead of sitting with Lavender, he sat with Harry, earning himself a very angry and confused look from his girlfriend and an inquiring but happy one from Hermione, who didn't join them but instead sat with Ginny, Neville, and Dean a bit down the table. To Ron, it seemed like a double date.

Merlin. Was that girl sending him mixed signals or what?

"Is there something going on with Neville and Hermione?" Ron asked Harry before he could stop himself. Harry groaned.

"Get a life, Ron!" he said, cutting a piece of his steak viciously at the sight of Ginny laughing at something Dean said. "If you can't admit you like her and you date another girl, you don't have any right at all to ask questions like that."

"But you know what my dream is about-" Ron started in a low, urgent whisper, but Harry rolled his eyes and got up.

"I have a lesson with Dumbledore. See you later."

Ron watched helplessly and furiously as he left, but, finally giving up, left the table and went to do his homework. He had to get it all done before prefect duty, which he had in an hour, and which he was absolutely dreading going to. How could he face Hermione when he knew that Lavender was now armed and dangerous with him agreeing to something he hadn't? Lavender was no she-who-must-not-be-named, but she wasn't a saint, either. She liked her drama and she liked her gossip and she was sort of the Queen bee of the sixth year Gryffindors, on account of the fact that her and Parvati were the most popular with the boys. A lot of people, Ron was sure, knew how he felt about Hermione, and he thought it might do Lavender some good to knock her down a peg. That said, he was worried. However, when he arrived at prefect duty and sat down next to Hermione, she seemed quite cheerful. Ron supposed this had to do with her O on her test more than anything else, but couldn't help harboring a bit of a hope that it was really because she was glad to come to the part of her day where she was still best friends with him.

"How are you?" he asked tentatively.

"Great," Hermione beamed. "I got an excellent grade on my defense essay, and we get off prefect duty earlier, which means more sleep."

"And more dreaming," Ron said before he could stop himself. Then he groaned. "Oh, god, I keep on saying things I don't want anyone to hear out loud today."

Hermione gazed at him unflinchingly for a few seconds before saying,

"When you dream, it's supposed to be your subconcious wishing."

"Er- what?" Ron responded. Hermione hummed a few bars of something before saying,

"I think it really applies to what we're going through right now, don't you think? Because our deepest regret is the fact that... well... you know... anyway, we wish that our regrets had happened differently, so in this case our dreams really are a wish we make, except they're highly accurate and magically enhanced wishes."

"Are you drunk?" Ron asked after a few seconds.

Hermione looked tired.

"No, Ron."

"Am I?"

"I don't think so."

"Well then why did that not make any sense to me whatsoever?"

"I used big-girl words," Hermione smirked. "And sometimes little boys like you can't understand that."

Ron wanted more then anything to prove to her that he was hardly little, but contented himself with a smoldering look at Hermione that, from the look on her face, was more seductive then angry. He'd have to remember to use it in a different context. In the meantime, he edged away from her a little bit, determined not to muck anything up further then it already was. Hermione was quiet for a long time. Then she said,

"When I was younger, my parents used to tuck me into bed at night, and we had this whole process of how it went."

"That's nice. My parents never had much time to do that with us, but-"

Hermione continued on as if she hadn't heard him, in a louder voice now.

"One of the nightly things we did was talk about the roses and thorns of our days. Roses were the best things, thorns were the worst."

"Fairly straightforward, seeing as it directly relates to the flower."

Hermione was quiet. Then she turned to Ron with bright eyes.

"Do you want to do it?"

"Er- what?"

"Do you want to play?"

"Play what?"

The brunet looked impatient.

"The roses and thorns game!"

"Oh," Ron said, and she looked so excited he felt that he had no choice but to agree. "Yes, alright then."

Hermione smiled brightly.

"Wonderful. Okay, roses first. Mine was my O in Defense Against the Dark Arts test."

"You weren't honestly worried, were you?" Ron asked, exasperated.

Hermione looked defensive.

"Well, you see, I'd thought I messed up problem fifty-two in that-"

"My rose was... um... when Seamus laughed orange juice out of his nose at breakfast this morning," Ron said, cutting her off, and Hermione let out a snort of laughter.

"It was an accident, right?" she asked, and Ron nodded.

"Ginny was doing her Snape impression again."

"So what was your thorn, then?"

"What was your thorn?" Ron asked, honestly curious.

"I asked you first!"

"I just went!"

"Please?" Hermione begged, turning her big brown eyes fully onto his own. Ron swallowed.

"Okay," he said mechanically. He had to swallow to get his voice to be able to work, as his throat felt about six times thicker then it had before. "My thorn was my Defense test grade. It was abysmal."

"Nice word," Hermione said, before biting her lip and sinking into thought about something. A few seconds later, she said, "I could help you."

"What?"

"We could... you know... meet places and I could help you study for stuff."

It sounded to Ron like a date, but they'd been friends for so long it was hard now to discern the lines.

"Or, Hermione, we could do that in the common room."

Hermione shook her head.

"No way. I can't stand the idea of people thinking I'm condoning your behavior. Therefor, any study sessions must be held in private. What do you say?"

She looked hopeful, and Ron felt hopeful, so without further ado he said,

"I'd love to."

"_I need help," Ron announced, sitting down by the fireside where Harry was working on an essay. Harry looked up._

"_You can just copy mine, Hermione won't be back from the library for hours."_

_"I know that. I was just there with her," Ron replied unblinkingly. Harry looked surprised before shaking his head._

"_Right. I keep forgetting. The whole dating thing. How's that going?"_

_"Great," Ron said fervently. "Except I just got kicked out of the library because I kept being distracting."_

_"Madam Pince?" Harry asked sympathetically._

"_No," Ron said as if it were obvious. "Hermione."_

_"Oh," Harry said shortly, not sure where to take this. "Well... _were _you being distracting?"_

_Ron rolled his eyes._

"_Honestly, I was only trying to snog her, it wasn't like I was publicly undressing her or anything."_

_"Okay, firstly, that's distracting, and secondly, ew! How often do you undress Hermione? Uhg, don't answer that."_

_Ron chuckled. _

_"Never," he told Harry. "I just wanted to see how far I could go without scarring you."_

_"Nice pun usage."_

_"Why thank you."_

_"So what did you need help with again?"_

_"Hermione."_

_Harry made a face. "This doesn't have anything to do with snogging or... or public undressing or trying to scar me, right?" _

"_Nope," Ron said. "Not at all."_

_"Okay, I'm all yours. What's up?"  
><em>_  
>"I need to tell her I love her," Ron announced, waiting for a big reaction. He got none. Harry just blinked at him, finally, when it was unbearable, said,<em>

_"So?"_

_"So!" Ron said, shocked that his best friend could be so daft. "That's, like, something huge!"_

"_But... it's not really a big deal, is it? I mean, you've told her before."_

_"Yeah, but that was once, and I didn't say it again after that."_

_Harry chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully. _

"_But haven't you known her so long that it's kind of a given?"_

_Ron drew himself up to full sitting-height and said,_

"_Harry, there are two kinds of love. Friendly love and romantic love. I've loved Hermione like a friend for a long time, but now the way I love her is different from the way you love her. Got it?"_

_Harry, looking confused, nodded._

"_Now," Ron continued, "I just need a really good way of letting her know. So, that's where you come in."_

_Harry shrugged._

"_I dunno. I mean, you could do Valentine's Day, but we have Quidditch practice so we can't go into-"_

_"We do?" Ron said, looking surprised. "Since when?"_

_"Since George and Fred heard Malfoy singing some song in the corridors about you being a rubbish Quidditch player and tried to hex Malfoy, so we had to get new beaters who stink."_

_"Well, I know that happened, but-"_

_"Angelina told me a few minutes ago."_

_"Damn!" Ron swore. "I already told Hermione it'd been canceled for the day, now how's she going to react?"  
><em>_  
>"I'm sure she'll be a perfectly nice girlfriend and accept the fact that her boyfriend has Quidditch practice that day," Harry said calmly. Then he sighed and put his quill down. "Look, why don't you use the room of requirement? Just come back, shower up, and bring Hermione there after nicking some food from the kitchens. You can ask her to look all fancy, and then tell her there."<em>

_"Brilliant!" Ron said enthusiastically. "Thanks, Harry. I owe you one."_

_"Do you?" Harry said, suddenly looking up hopefully. "Well then, Ron, I have to ask you something."_

_Harry cleared his throat, looking nervous._

"_Well, I've been hanging out with Ginny a lot more, you know? Because you and Hermione are dating?Which is why I pulled away when Cho tried to kiss me under the mistletoe right before Christmas, if you'll remember."_

_Ron vaguely did remember this, but he hadn't really been focusing on it at the time because Hermione's hand had been making rather distracting circles on his leg while Harry talked to the both of them, and Ron hadn't really been concentrating on his best friend. _

"_I don't see how those two things are connected, mate," Ron said, frowning._

"_Er, I've started to get some, er, feelings for her."_

_Ron stared at Harry, thunderstruck. His mouth was open, bobbling open and closed like a fish._

"_You owe me one, remember?" Harry said, but Ron continued to look at him, shocked. The portrait hole opened, and Hermione wandered in, looking happy with her night's work in the library. At the sight of Ron's face, she giggled._

_"Very attractive, Ron."_

_But one look at Harry's expression told Hermione that this wasn't a normal situation. _

"_What's going on?"_

_"You like her?" Ron shouted finally._

_"Who?" Hermione asked, looking alarmed at Ron's tone of voice. She placed a hand on his arm, but he ignored it and continued to glare._

"_Er- no one, Hermione," Harry said, flushing._

_"Who do you like?" Hermione demanded. _

_"No! The answer's no! You can NOT go out with my little sister!"_

_"HAH! I knew it!" Hermione yelled triumphantly, going over to Harry to hug him. "Congratulations, you two will be so happy together! Oooh, are you going to ask her to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day?"_

_"Can't," Harry said miserably. "We have Quidditch. And she's sort of dating Michael Corner."_

_The happy look vanished off of Hermione's face, and she turned towards Ron looking rather devastated. The angry look melted off of Ron's face at the sight of her, and was replaced by a guiltiness with a tender twinge to it that Harry only ever saw when Ron was looking at Hermione. _

"_Yeah, we do. I'm really sorry," Ron said. Hermione bit her lip and nodded, trying to look as though this didn't upset her. "We'll be practicing throughout the Hogsmeade visit, but I thought we could get together when I got back?" Ron said hopefully. Hermione nodded again._

"_I'm going to go to bed," she said in her special voice reserved only for moments where she was crestfallen. Then, with a sigh, Hermione turned around and headed off to bed._

"_I feel like a jerk," Ron said, collapsing into his armchair. _

_"What are you supposed to do?" Harry asked, shrugging._

_"Resign from the team?"_

_"Stop, Ron. She wouldn't want you to, and you're really good. Look, Hermione's going to be thrilled when she figures out what you've got planned for her. Just make it up to her, alright? Besides, you two are only sixteen and fifteen, you'll have so many Valentine's Days left in your lives. There's always more time."_

_But what Harry Potter did not know for sure- what no one ever did- was exactly how much time they all had left._


	14. Chapter 14

"Good morning, Harry!" Ron said cheerfully, finding a seat next to his best friend and going to butter his toast.

"Morning, Ron," Harry said groggily.

"How did you sleep?" Ron asked, and Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his friend.

"What are you so cheerful about?"

"Oh, nothing," Ron said. "Hey, did you know that if I had gotten together with Hermione in fourth year I would have been an awesome Quidditch player last year, and you never would have gotten banned from the Quidditch team?"

Harry's fist closed too tightly around the hard boiled egg he was holding.

"What?" he said murderously.

"Yep!" was all Ron gave in return, and Harry continued being pissed off.

"Seriously, why are you so happy?"

"Why do you care?" Ron asked, and Harry rolled his eyes.

"It's disconcerting. It's like a natural happiness, not some weird Lavender-induced version."

Ron shrugged, giving Harry a puzzled look.

"Dunno. Maybe I'm just in a good mood, nothing particular."

There was a pause. Then Harry said,

"Where'd you go last night?"

"Er- what?"

"You spent about thirty minutes in our dorm getting dressed for something, then left."

"Oh. I was with Lavender," Ron fibbed.

"No you weren't, though," Harry said, shaking his head.

"How do you know?" Ron asked sharply.

"Because she came looking for you after you had left, or didn't you know?"

Ron swallowed.

"Did she?"

"Yes, she did. And I told her I thought you were with her, which did not make her happy."

"Yeah, you should probably make something up next time."

Harry raised his eyebrow.

"Next time?"

"It's sort of a three-times-a-week thing," Ron said.

"So whenever you're not on prefect duty, you're doing this?"

"Yeah. It's four days a week of prefect duty, and three days of this," Ron told his confused friend.

"Ron, I'll make you a deal. If you tell me what's going on in your weird little evenings, I'll make up an excuse for it. Unless it involves cheating, because if it does I think you should just bloody tell Lavender and make her break up with you-"

"There's no cheating," Ron promised hurriedly. "I mean, not yet."

"So it has to do with Hermione," Harry said automatically, and Ron chuckled.

"Honestly. You'd never have said that if I hadn't told you what my dream was about."

"Does it?" Harry pressed, and Ron nodded. "What are you doing?"

"She's sort of tutoring me in all the subjects I'm failing."

Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"Seems interesting, doesn't it?"

"What seems interesting?" Ginny, who had been passing them, asked. "The fact that you're talking to my asshole of a brother?"

"Yeah, what?" Ron demanded, discarding the second half of Ginny's comment.

Harry directed his words towards the male Weasley while the female one listened on.

"Well, when you're with Lavender, all you do is snog, you never get anything done, and don't even seem to be that happy. But the night after you spend with Hermione, there is no snogging involved, you're studying the whole time, and you seem to be having more fun then you do with Lavender."

"Yeah," Ginny said, smirking. "It seems that Hermione genuinely wants you to succeed, whereas Lavender doesn't care either way. Hmmmm. I wonder who's better to be in a relationship with. Don't you, Harry?"

Harry let out a snort before catching the look on Ron's face. He turned it into a cough, and Ginny walked away, the snide look still on her face. Ron watched as she went to sit next to Hermione. Judging from the expression on Hermione's face, his traitor of a sister was telling the girl he fancied the whole story. Great. Just _phenomenal_.

"So how long have you been doing it?" Harry asked, and Ron turned red at the phrasing of the question. "Oh, get your mind out of the gutter," Harry snapped, and Ron rolled his eyes.

"Like I can help it. Anyways, last night was the first time."

"So, let me guess. You make puppy dog eyes at her and then sit there watching her as she does your homework."

"No," Ron said simply. "That's not it at all."

"Well then... Ron, she does do your homework for you, right?"

"Nope," Ron said lightly. "She helps me with it, but it's all my own work. I actually learn."

Harry gaped at his friend, and, with a sigh, Ron put down the toast and faced Harry.

"Listen. If she does my homework for me, there's less interaction, and it doesn't take so long. The more idiotic I am, the better. I get the spend more time with her this way, on good terms. I mean, she's sort of a lunatic when it comes to her adoration for studies, but she's a pretty patient teacher, and, let's face it, I get to surreptitiously sniff her hair, which smells so bloody-"

"Oh, okay, too much information!" Harry said quickly, holding a hand up in the universal _stop or I'll hurt you_position. "So which do you have tonight?"

"Studying. And then tomorrow is prefect stuff again."

"So, basically, you're spending every single night of the week peacefully coexisting with a girl who can't stand the sight of your face right now."

"Basically, yes," Ron said. "But since when has anything about me and Hermione ever been basic?"

"Point taken."

"_Hermione! Hey, Hermione!" _

_Hermione whirled around to see her boyfriend running towards her at full force. He was probably __late again. He was constantly being late for Quidditch practice, and forever running around everywhere before it to get things done. It was getting to the point that he was tired even before he got to practice, so by the time Ron got in, he would fall asleep with his head in Hermione's lap nearly every night. She'd glance helplessly over at Harry, who always laughed at the situation._

_"It serves you right, Hermione," he would say, "For going out with Ron."_

_Hermione would shoot him an ugly grimace. _

"_Shut up, Harry. I don't mind that he's using me as a pillow, I just don't want to wake him!"_

_And she'd sigh and settle in with a book until Ron would wake up around two AM, sometimes to find Hermione wide awake, sometimes to find her sleeping. It didn't matter, anyways, because the beam on Ron's face whenever he woke up beside her was worth being exhausted in class the next day. _

"_Listen, about tonight-"_

_"Yes, happy Valentine's Day, by the way," Hermione said, her voice a bit cold. She attempted to soften it, knowing that it all wasn't Ron's fault. "Sorry. I'm just disappointed."_

_"I get that. I'm sorry too. But I'm going to make it up to you."_

_Hermione looked intrigued. _

_"Really."_

_"Really. Meet me in front of the Room of Requirement at seven. Wear something nice."_

_"Seven... if we stay too long, we'll get caught out-of-bounds."_

_"Harry's going to lend me the cloak," Ron said, grinning at Harry as he came up next to them. "Won't you Harry?"_

_"Er- sure. What did I just agree to?"_

_"Giving me the cloak later." _

"_Ron!" Harry said, aghast._

_"Bye Harry!" Hermione said, waving. She pecked Ron on the lips before reversing her direction._

_"Now where're you going?" Ron asked her, and Hermione smiled. _

_"Well, I was going to spend the day in the library, but since you said to wear something nice, I think __I'll have to go into Hogsmeade."  
><em>

_Harry jabbed Ron on the arm._

_"Ron, you should have told her ages ago! Then she could have sent for clothes like your mum did for you."_

_"Right. That would have been smarter," Ron said, thinking about the white button down shirt and black pants that were folded on top of his trunk for easy access. _

_***_

_Hermione, however calm she'd seemed when talking to Ron, burst into Ginny's room ten minutes later in a state of high alarm._

"_GINNY!" she shouted, causing all the other girls in Ginny's dorm to jump. "I need help!" _

_Ginny emerged from the bathroom, her hair half-dry, looking confused._

"_With what?"_

_Hermione considered this. Then she said,_

_"Being girly."_

_Ginny smirked. _

"_Hermione, I'm not exactly the best candidate. Go to Lavender or Parvati."_

_"I can't," Hermione said miserably. "They're in Hogsmeade. And you're better than I am. Come on! Come into Hogsmeade with me and find me a dress!"  
><em>

"_For what?" Ginny asked._

"_Ron has just told me we're doing something for Valentine's Day now, for the love of god. And he said to wear something nice."_

_"You just might be screwed," Ginny responded._

_"Pleasant, Ginny," Hermione replied._

_"Okay, listen... I can't go into Hogsmeade with you, because I promised Michael I'd go with him, and I'm not canceling. It's Valentine's Day. However, I can lend you something from my friend Cammie's closet. You two are pretty much the same size, and mum taught me how to do minor alterations. Is that alright, Cammie?" Ginny asked, shooting a glance in her friend's direction. The girl, who Hermione recognized to be the daughter of the Minister of Magic's little sister, nodded, smiling._

"_Of course. I recognize a crisis when I see one."_

_"Thank you!" Hermione said, breathing a sigh of relief. "But- oh! What about jewelry?" she added desperately, and Ginny rolled her eyes._

"_Go by yourself and pick it out! You know what you like!"_

_"But I'm so bad at matching things," Hermione complained. At this, Ginny smiled._

"_Ah, Miss Granger. I think it's time to introduce you to an old friend." _

_She reached into one of the mahogany wardrobes and searched until she found something. Then she pulled it out and showed it to Hermione. _

"_Hermione. Meet little black dress."_

_Hermione spent the day in Hogsmeade until she found a pair of heart shaped earrings she liked and bought them. She would have bought a necklace, too, but around one o'clock in the afternoon, Ginny found her and demanded that she buy nice undergarments for the occasion._

_"Um, why?" Hermione asked, her brows knitting together. "It's not like he's going to be seeing them."_

_"Two reasons," Ginny said, taking her hand and leading her over to a store that Hermione had never been into. "First of all, he could accidentally see them. Like if you happen to be sitting criss-cross-applesauce in the dress, for example, or if the dress moves downward and shows your bra. It's been __known to happen, and it's better to be safe then sorry." _

"_The second reason?" Hermione asked, glancing over at a see-through bra and blushing at the idea of herself in it. Ginny snapped her gaze away._

_"Okay, we're not going for _that_!" she said, rolling her eyes. "C'mon, Hermione, you're still sixteen."_

_Hermione opened her mouth indignantly, about to say that she didn't actually want the thing at all, but Ginny cut her off._

_"The second reason," she said, "Is that a girl is always more confident when she wears a nice bra and underwear set. It's almost like an awesome secret that guides you through the day like a patronus."_

_"Okay, now you're just talking crazy," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, Ginny, for a fourteen year old you can be a bit sketchy sometimes."_

_"I'm not crazy!" Ginny pronounced. "You'll see what I mean later."_

_In the end, Hermione ended up buying a couple of sets just to appease Ginny, leaving her with no money for shoes, a bracelet, or a necklace. Glaring at Ginny as she left the store, Hermione asked something she'd forgotten to earlier. _

_"What'd you do with Michael?"_

_"Oh, I just took a quick break from him. I'm meeting him at Madam Puddyfoot's in five minutes, actually. So, got to run!" _

_Around five o'clock, Ginny appeared in Hermione's room, brandishing Cammie's little black dress._

_"What's that for?" Lavender asked as Ginny came into the room._

"_Hermione's got a hot date with Ron," Ginny said, keeping her smirks down to a minimum, to her credit. _

"_Oooh! Can we help?" Parvati asked longingly. Hermione and Ginny exchanged alarmed glances, but in the end agreed. Lavender and Parvati scrambled up, calling the parts of Hermione they wanted to work on._

_"I call make up!" said Lavender._

_"I want her hair!" Parvati cried out. _

"_Really?" Hermione said, wrinkling her nose. _

"_You can have it." Lavender agreed, and Parvati nodded smugly. _

"_Okay, I'll do her nails," Ginny said willingly. _

_Hermione decided to close her eyes and just let them turn her into a barbie doll. Her one command was that Lavender go lightly on the make up, which the girl grudgingly complied to. After voting on which pair of undergarments Hermione was to wear, she was pushed into the bathroom to change into the pink and black set and her dress. When she came out, the girls made the appropriate alterations, then made their finishing touches on her hair, nails, and make up. It was then that Lavender said,_

_"Where're her shoes?"_

_Hermione opened her eyes to see Ginny look guilty._

"_We used up all her money on the bras."_

_Hermione closed her eyes again as she felt Ginny pushing the heart-shaped earrings into her ears. _

"_Try these!" came Lavender's voice, and then Hermione felt her feet being shoved into a pair of shoes. _

"_How's the fit?" Ginny asked._

"_Pinchy." Hermione responded. _

"_Well, you have to suffer to be beautiful," Ginny shrugged. "At least we didn't force you into a corset."_

_"Although I have one in my closet if you'd... oh, that was sarcastic," Lavender said, and although Hermione couldn't see her, she had a feeling Lavender was blushing._


	15. Chapter 15

_They put Hermione's watch on her wrist, as it went well with the earrings, and Parvati let her borrow a fake diamond necklace._

_"You can look now," Lavender said, and Hermione shook her head._

_"I haven't been closing my eyes because I want to be surprised! I've been closing my eyes because I really don't want to know."_

_"I think you'll like it," Ginny said quietly._

_"Oh, go on, Hermione!" Parvati begged. "I know you'll love your hair."_

_So Hermione opened her eyes, stood up, and promptly fell down._

_"What the-?"_

_"High heels," Ginny said bracingly, and Hermione immediately moved to push them off of her feet._

_"No, leave them on!" Parvati said quickly._

_"Yeah, it'll make snogging him much easier."_

_Parvati rounded on her best friend._

_"What is it with you and snogging?" she asked, and Lavender shrugged. "I, Hermione, was going for the fact that your legs look awesome."_

_"Fine, I'll keep them," Hermione said, but she was secretly more concerned with the snogging part. It was true that she couldn't kiss Ron standing up for too long because it was such an effort for him to bend down and her to stand on her tip toes. She wished she was a bit taller and he a bit shorter, but, then again, she'd always thought how tall he was made him cuter. She had a type, and that type was, apparently, tall and lanky._

_When she arrived unsteadily at the mirror, Hermione's eyes widened. Was that even her? It was a bit too... well... no... oh goodness. She didn't think she liked it very much. First of all, the high heels made the dress look shorter than it actually was, which, in Hermione's opinion, was saying something. The neckline was much too low cut, in fact, she could see a little hint of cleavage. She hadn't even known she had that. That was one of the great things about the dress she wore to the Yule Ball. It didn't show any cleavage at all, and she'd felt safe and comfortable in it. But this..._

_"No way," Hermione managed to get out. "This dress... no."_

_"You're sixteen," Ginny said, exasperated. "You're seventeen in seven months! And Ron's sixteen in two weeks. You should be wearing dresses like this by now, and, for the love of merlin, it's not like Ron hasn't seen anything like that before."_

_"Not on me!" Hermione whispered._

_"Okay, so don't concentrate on that," Parvati said coaxingly. "Look at the way Lavender did your make up!"_

_Hermione glanced at her face to see a nervous but beautiful girl there. She frowned. She hadn't even known she could look like that if she tried. She knew there were more important things in life than looking nice, and she hadn't ever bothered to go down that path. It wasn't what Ron wanted her for, and if it had been, good riddance. But now, seeing this, she wondered if she should have been trying harder all along. The make up lightly accented her features, and Hermione became fixated mostly on the way the eyeliner and mascara framed her eyes, making them look bigger and somehow... enticing._

_"Lavender, that looks great," she said quietly. "Thank you."_

_"And your hair, don't forget to look at your hair!" Ginny added. Hermione wrinkled her nose. She had a feeling the hair would ruin her whole illusion of beauty. But she was wrong. Parvati seemed to have straightened it and then curled it, therefor making it into little ringlets. Then, Parvati had clipped it up with a big black hair clip to make it fall down her neck like a waterfall of curls, leaving one particularly big one to hang down Hermione's face. A ponytail. Well, that wasn't a huge departure from usual, was it? But somehow, it looked fifteen times better this way, and Hermione's smile grew more confident. Now, the girl that usually looked two years younger then she actually was looked her own age, and she looked beautiful in her own age. Of course, Hermione wasn't going to dress like this every day, but once in a while... well, what could the harm be?_

_Yes, once every two or three years, she might bother to try._

_OOO_

_Ron catapulted himself onto the ground the second Angelina said that practice was over. He stripped off his Quidditch robes as fast as he could and had left the changing rooms before the rest of the team had even entered. From the grounds, he bolted all the way up to Gryffindor tower, where he threw himself into the shower and took it in a record fast time. Then, after saying a spell to make his hair dry quickly, Ron put on the clothes that his mum had sent him and set off for the Room of Requirement. Never before had he been so grateful for the DA, except maybe that one time where he tripped Hermione, forcing her to fall and land on top of his chest, where he kissed her and made it all seem like an accident. Now, in front of the Room of Requirement, he wondered what else the room could do for him. Closing his eyes and pacing back and forth three times, Ron muttered,_

_"I need a place where Hermione and I can celebrate Valentine's Day."_

_When he opened his eyes, there was a door, so he opened it and glanced into the room, then immediately turned red. The only thing in the room was a bed. Ron shouted,"That is NOT what I meant!" before backing out of the room, slamming the door shut, and trying again._

_"I need a place to have a nice dinner with Hermione. With no bed, for the love of Merlin."_

_This time, when he opened the door, he was satisfied. The room was filled with candles that hadn't been lit yet, and in the center was a table with two chairs and a nice red tablecloth. To the left of the table was a wizarding stereo, and next to that was a red love seat._

_"Yeah, thanks," Ron said, directing his voice upwards. "Much better."_

_He tried to ease his nerves as he sat on the couch, going over a few different ways he could tell Hermione he loved her in his head. He was still doing this an hour later when there was a knock at the door. Ron headed over to it and opened it. Dobby stood out there with about ten different house elves, all carrying platters._

_"Mister Wheezy, Dobby has brought you some dinner, as you asked!" Dobby squeaked, and then he and the house elves headed into the room and started setting things on the table. Ron whizzed around, wondering how all the dishes were fitting on the table, but it seemed that when Dobby had entered the room, it had magically expanded as to fit all the plates._

_"Dobby, when I asked you if you could bring us food, I just thought you were going to make a couple of sandwiches. Maybe a dish of pasta, at the most."_

_"Pasta?" Dobby said, perking up. "Oh, Mister Wheezy, we do have pasta! And garlic bread!"_

_"My god no, take away the garlic!" Ron said hurriedly, and while the other house elves hastened to comply, Dobby obliviously started going over all the pasta dishes they had brought up._

_"We have raviolis, and spaghetti with meatballs, and angel hair with shrimp sauce, and spaghetti with alfredo sauce, and stuffed raviolis, and GIANT stuffed raviolis, and spaghetti with butter and applesauce, and spinach raviolis, and-"_

_"Oh, Hermione's going to kill me," Ron said, sitting down faintly on the couch. For the first time, Dobby looked guilty._

_"Dobby is sorry, Mister Wheezy. Dobby simply wanted to help Mister Wheezy impress his Mione. Two of Harry Potter's friends in love, Dobby couldn't help himself!"_

_The sound of Dobby calling Hermione his, his, Mione, calmed Ron down a little bit, but he did wonder where the elf had picked up the nickname._

_"'S alright, Dobby," Ron replied weakly. "Thanks for all the effort. It was very sweet."_

_"Sweet? Sweets! Oh, we have chocolate pie, chocolate cake, a peanut butter and chocolate heart shaped ice-cream cake, whipped cream in a bowl with cherries on top-"_

_"Er- what?" Ron said._

_"Whipped cream in a bowl with cherries on top," Dobby repeated. "And chocolate pecan pie, and-"_

_"No, go back to the whipped cream in a bowl with cherries on top," Ron said. "Where did that come from?"_

_"Oh. When Mister Wheezy's Mione is upset, she comes down to the kitchen and that's what she wants."_

_"Just whipped cream in a bowl? Well, what is she upset about, usually?"_

_"Mister Wheezy's name comes up a lot."_

_"Does this happen often?" Ron asked, and Dobby shook his head._

_"No, sir, not at all. The first time was just last year, when she was upset about the yule ball. She said that Mister Wheezy was just taking her because he had to, and that he'd never like her. And then Dobby told Mister Wheezy's Mione, he told her, 'If someone is with you nearly every second of the day, miss, Dobby would wager he does like you'. But then Mister Wheezy's Mione told Dobby that it wasn't the same type of like."_

_Ron grinned to himself._

_"Any time after that?"_

_Dobby nodded._

_"There were several times when Mister Wheezy's Mione was frustrated with some sort of secret last year, and then at the end of the term she came down and had a cry over the same thing."_

_"Ah. That was when we were hiding our relationship from Harry, and then the whole Voldemort returning thing happened and we couldn't tell him."_

_"After that," Dobby continued, "Mister Wheezy's Mione came down because she was upset that he wouldn't let her watch him play Quidditch, but she really wanted to, and then because of a couple of silly arguments, and then because she was distraught over the health of Mister Wheezy's father."_

_"And she has that same, disgusting concoction every time?" Ron asked incredulously, and Dobby nodded._

_"Yes, sir. Now Dobby must be getting back down to the kitchen, sir. He has another dinner to be making!"_

_"Thanks, Dobby."_

_"You're welcome, sir. Dobby hopes Mister Wheezy's Mione has a good time tonight!" Dobby said, before snapping his fingers and disappearing from the room. Ron nodded as he went back to sit on the couch._

_"Yeah. Me too, Dobby."_

_Twenty minutes later it was seven o'clock, and Hermione, of course, was right on time. There was a tentative knock on the door, and then her voice softly called out his name. Ron hurried over and opened it. He was about to speak when he took in Hermione's appearance, and that was when he had the misfortune of choking on his own spit at the sight of her. Hermione watched him, looking rather concerned, until suddenly a voice shouted,_

_"SMILE!"_

_They both turned around, surprised, to see Ginny holding a camera and beaming._

_"C'mon, you two! Gimme a grin!"_

_Hermione glanced uncertainly toward Ron, who didn't seem to know what to make of the situation, either. Making up her mind, she leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder, shyly posing with him. As Ginny clicked the shutter, she placed a kiss on his cheek. Ron, who was still looking at her in the dress, had just turned his head to see her... front better, accidentally catching Hermione's lips with his. But it woke him up from his reverie, and he deepened the kiss, sweeping her into a dramatic dip for the camera, before letting her go. She laughed and hugged him, before glancing back at the camera with her arms around him._

_"Oops, sorry, Ginny. Forgot you were there. Want us to do that again?"_

_Ginny shook her head._

_"Nope. I think that was perfect."_

_Then she skipped away, and Ron took Hermione's hand and led her into the Room of Requirement._

_"You look..."_

_But Ron couldn't even think of a word to describe how Hermione Granger looked, so he simply led her over to the table and pulled out her chair for her. Hermione surveyed the room as she sat, then directed her wand at the unlit candles, effectively lighting them up. When her eyes fell on the food, she gasped._

_"Ron, how the-?"_

_"Dobby," Ron said, sitting down, and, as he expected, Hermione cried,_

_"Ron!"_

_"Well, he wanted to. I swear, I just asked for a couple of sandwiches... and then he brought all this."_

_Hermione looked tense for a few moments, but then she sighed and tried to get her shoulders to relax._

_"Well then, that's alright, I guess," she said, her eyes glancing quickly at the dishes. "And it all looks delicious. A lot of pasta."_

_"Yeah," Ron agreed, grinning. "I think Dobby has an obsession with spaghetti and ravioli."_

_Hermione's eyes lit up._

_"Maybe we can take the extra food down to the kitchen when we're done! Then the elves can eat it!"_

_Ron wasn't sure how well that would go over, but he agreed none the less. Soon, he and Hermione had lapsed into an easy conversation that had nothing to do with house elves, and Ron was happy to say that the conversation was so time consuming, Hermione didn't even notice the lack of garlic bread. When they'd eaten all the dinner they could, Ron lifted the covers off of the dessert, and he saw Hermione's face register surprise at the whipped cream dish._

_"Yeah, what is up with that?" he said teasingly to her, and from Hermione's blush he thought she might know what he now knew. "You want some?"_

_"No thank you."_

_"Really?" Ron frowned, covering the dish. "I thought it was your favorite."_

_Hermione shook her head._

_"I only eat that when I need it. When I'm sad. And I certainly don't need it right now. The chocolate pecan pie, however... wow."_

_Eventually, they ended splitting a bit of everything, eating it off of the same plate because they were too lazy to divide it fairly. Hermione, because she was an excellent girlfriend, allowed Ron to eat more of everything. After a while of eating the food, Hermione wrapped up what she and Ron wanted to hide in their dorms, and put everything else back on the trays that the elves had brought it up on. Then they moved over to the couch. Hermione kicked off her shoes, tucked her legs under her, and leaned against Ron. They kept up a sleepy conversation until Hermione was too tired to continue. Hermione fell asleep with her head on Ron's shoulder, and he was happy to reciprocate what she did for him nearly every time he had Qudditch practice. He stroked her hair and watched her sleep, loving how soft her expression was. She looked so relaxed and happy, less stressed than she ever was when conscious. Checking his watch, Ron realized it was eleven o'clock at night. He still hadn't told Hermione he loved her, and wanted to on this day. So he shook her awake an hour later, and Hermione groggily gazed up at him._

_"Ron?"_

_"Hermione, I know I said this over a year ago, and I haven't said it since then, but I just wanted this night to be perfect and now I really am ready, and I seriously mean it, and-"_

_"Oh, Ron," Hermione murmured, kissing his lips. "I love you too."_

_"Hey! I didn't get to say it!" Ron said indignantly. But Hermione was already asleep again._


	16. Chapter 16

It had been a couple of weeks since Ron and Hermione had started studying together, and he'd never had so much fun. Of course, whenever they left the library, Hermione would always be stuffy, cold, and just generally bitchy to him. But Ron supposed she had the right. And, anyways, he hadn't really expected the whole studying thing to fix it. Yes, the dreams. But not the studying. He'd loved the dreams lately. They'd carried Ron and Hermione through the end of fifth year, and Ron had felt a particular fascination at the Ministry of Magic battle. He had been so protective of Hermione. Dream-Ron had literally always had one eye on Hermione and the other eye on everywhere else, more concerned with her safety then his. It was remarkably selfless, and Ron had never known himself to be a better person. That was the thing about Hermione. She always seemed to make him better. She made him braver, happier, smarter, more mature...__

He closed his eyes once again as he pictured the part of the ministry battle where he had literally thrown himself in front of a curse intended for Hermione. It blasted him back and knocked the wind out of him, but he'd seen it coming, and it would have been worse for Hermione, because she hadn't. She also would have landed frontwards, where as Ron landed on his back, making his injuries practically nonexistent. Of course, the other highlight of the battle had been when he'd gotten attacked by the brains. Hermione had been hysterical with panic, refusing to leave his side, and unable to speak for a bit through her tears. A few months ago, Ron never would have understood why she was so upset. After all, she hadn't been the first time he'd gotten attacked by brains. The original time. But in the dream, he realized, he and Hermione had practically become codependent. His adoration for her had become so strong it would not have been an exaggeration to say that he needed her. Any panic Ron felt in real life at the idea of loosing Hermione was nothing compared to how dream-Ron felt. He wasn't sure, but he looked at this as a weakness. He knew that it could end very, very badly.__

Perhaps this was foreshadowing to how the dream would turn out. At the rate they were going, Ron knew that he was about to see the future. The potion worked in a very funny way, only showing certain things that really mattered, so Ron knew that he wouldn't be seeing all of it, and he also knew that the dream future would be very different from what the real future would be like. But as soon as he dreamed past sixth year, he'd be going onto his seventh year. And Ron had no idea how that would go. He still wasn't sure if he was coming back to school or going off with Harry. Because the world was collapsing around them all, and Harry was turning seventeen, and nothing at all seemed certain anymore.__

That was one thing that Ron had taken for granted nearly all of his life. He'd never known to enjoy how predictable every day life was. Now, things such as school, and even falling in love, were second to Voldemort. Ron remembered the fact that his parents had eloped because of this exact reason. He pictured himself eloping with Lavender. He cringed. Then he pictured himself eloping with Hermione. The icky feeling that Lavender brought on left his stomach, and was replaced by utter calm. The image of Hermione in a long white dress entered his mind, and Ron felt his lips go up into a smile. She was beautiful. She was always beautiful. He'd just been too stupid to notice it for the first three years he'd known her.__

_"_Hi, Ron!" Hermione said, startling him out of his daydream. He grinned happily up at her, sure that his eyes were still a bit glazed over.__

_"_Hi, Mione."__

Hermione furrowed her brow as she dropped her books onto the table he was sitting at.__

_"_Ron, this isn't the dream. You can't call me Mione. I don't want you to call me Mione, okay?"__

Ron quickly came back to real life.__

_"_Right. Sorry. I forgot. Every thing's better there."__

It was pointless to be dishonest, to skirt around the truth. When Hermione had heard him say that he was in love with her in Slughorn's classroom, she had learned everything about him that she could ever find out. It had been his only secret from her, and now that cat was out of the bag, she knew. Although... now that Ron thought about it... her actions towards him hadn't really changed since she found out. It almost seemed as though Hermione hadn't truly believed it. Hm. Ron desperately wanted to instigate a conversation about this, but he wasn't sure how to do it without giving away his position. Then he got an idea. Slowly, he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper.__

_"_So, chapter eighteen of _Intermediate Transfiguration _states that-" Hermione was saying, but when Ron put the slip of paper in front of her, she stopped and looked at him. "What's this?"__

Ron arranged his face into a confused expression.__

_"_I found this a while ago, in my bag. I'm not sure what it means. Care to enlighten me?"__

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise as she opened the slip and read the words, her lips forming them as she went. When she was finished, she looked back up at him.__

_"_I know it's my handwriting, but I can't remember what the context was anymore. Do you?"__

From the innocence on her face, Ron knew Hermione was lying. He was determined not to let her know how much he depended on this moment, so he said,__

_"_Yeah, I do, a little. I believe you'd heard me saying something to Slughorn, and you were mad at me for it."__

Hermione looked down. When she spoke, it was in a strained whisper.__

_"_Ron, I need to know. Did you really mean that? Are you really-?"__

Ron didn't directly address her question at first.__

_"_You don't know what that note means, Hermione?"__

Hermione shook her head.__

_"_I don't."__

_"_Well then I didn't mean what I said to Slughorn," Ron said finally. _Better safe then sorry_, he thought grimly to himself. "I was trying to make him think I loved you to give me some potion information."__

Hermione looked like she was about to burst into tears. __

_"_Oh. Okay," she said in a thick voice. "Right. Of course not."__

Instantly, Ron wished he could take the whole conversation back. He watched as Hermione turned away from him, and saw her reach up to furiously brush a tear away.__

_"_It's just-" Hermione said, turning back toward him. "It all fit together, and-" she forced herself to laugh in what Ron was sure Hermione thought was a relieved sound. "I thought I was going to have to turn you down, which would have been awful, don't you think? Yeah, it would have been really awkward-"__

Maybe he should tell her. Maybe he should just come out and say it. It couldn't be that hard? And then, if it turned out his way, Hermione would get together with him and he could ditch Lavender.__

_"_-But, you know, the whole thing with your deepest regret being not taking me to the ball, it just seemed-"__

_"_Hermione," Ron suddenly said, stopping her. Hermione halted, her eyes suddenly becoming wider. Ron remembered the way she looked after Lavender had done her make up in the dream, so doe-eyed and beautiful. And Hermione Granger just seemed to get more gorgeous every year. "Hermione, I'm not sure I understand the whole thing about the dream, either. I mean, with you, there's always a risk. I don't know if you just felt that way for me now, or if I've done something in the past two years that have made you feel differently. But, I guess what I'm trying to say is-"__

_"_Won Won?"__

Oh dear god. She was calling him Won Won? If they got together, she'd call him Won Won? Would it ever end? But with a start, Ron realized that Hermione's lips hadn't moved. As a matter of fact, she'd just whirled around. He followed her gaze and saw immediately who had said his name. Lavender. And she looked mad.__

_"_What are you doing with her?"__

Hermione instantly blushed and stood up.__

_"_After everything you said about Hermione the other day, you still want to hang out with her?"__

_"_What?" Hermione said quickly, turning back to Ron. "What did you say about me?"__

_"_I'm actually not sure," Ron said slowly. "I mean, I was tuning Lavender out, and then she made me agree to something, although what I still have no-"__

_"_He said," Lavender cut in, crossing her arms superiorly. "That he thought you were the ugliest girl at Hogwarts. Uglier then Eloise Midgion. He said that he thought you were just a snobby know-it-all who couldn't keep her hand down in class for the life of her, and that your hair is out of control. He said he actually pitied McLaggen for having to go out on a date with you. That the only reason he put up with you for the past five years was because you got his homework done."__

Hermione stood there as though paralyzed. Ron stood up angrily.__

_"_Lavender, I did not-" he started, but Hermione was now in action. She grabbed her books and ran out of the library, not bothering to wait to hear what Ron had to say. Lavender looked very smug.__

_"_Nice teamwork!" she said, raising her hand for a high five. But Ron was looking at her with shock on his face.__

_"_I thought I knew who you were," he said. "At least a little."__

Lavender's smile melted off of her face.__

_"_What do you mean?"__

_"_I mean, I thought you were alright. I never thought you'd hurt someone just for the pleasure of hurting them. You know?"__

And then he, too, exited the library. Ron walked up to the tower without Lavender and into the common room. He instantly found Harry, sitting on a couch and looking rather confused. When he saw the look on Ron's face, however, he moaned.__

_"_What did you do to her now?" Harry asked, and Ron winced.__

_"_Thanks, mate," Ron responded, sitting down next to Harry. "That ought to make my headache go away."__

_"_Headache? No, really, Ron."__

_"_It wasn't me, alright!" Ron snapped, and when Harry looked skeptical, he said, "Well, it wasn't. It was Lavender."__

Harry rolled his eyes.__

_"_If it wasn't you, it was as good as. What'd she do?"__

_"_She made up all these bull insults that I supposedly said to Hermione. FYI, I didn't. But now Hermione thinks I'm the worst bloke out there."__

_"_Well, why didn't you just explain-?" Harry started, but Ron shook his head.__

_"_I tried to, mate. She just ran out of the place before I could get two words in. Well, maybe two, but... er, you know what I mean."__

Harry thought about this before saying,__

_"_It doesn't seem like something Hermione would really do. Are you sure something else hadn't happened before then to upset her, something that would make her run out of there without getting all of the facts?"__

_"_You mean besides the fact I'm dating Lavender?"__

_"_Yeah, besides that. Something more fresh."__

Ron bit his lip. __

_"_There is something."__

He paused.__

_"_Well?" Harry said.__

_"_Remember how I told Slughorn I was in love with her, and then Hermione heard and got all mad at me?"__

Harry simply nodded, waiting.__

_"_Well, we started talking about her that day, and I told her I had been lying to Slughorn."__

Harry stared at Ron for a few seconds. Then he stood up and walked away.__

_"_God, are you an idiot. I mean, I've met a lot of idiots, but you take the cake. I think Malfoy is less of an asshole then you are, Ron, and that is bloody saying something. You're self destructive, for the love of merlin."__

He started to walk away, and Ron leaped up and sprinted after him.__

_"_Wait, wait, what do I do?"__

Harry turned around.__

_"_Ron, who am I, a relationship guru? I'm just as helpless in this as you are. Well, no, actually, I'm not."__

_"_C'mon, Harry. What would you do?"__

Harry briefly considered this before nodding concisely and saying,__

_"_Make it up to her. Show her I care. Kiss her arse. Night, Ron."__

Harry turned around and headed up to the dorms. Ron sat back on the couch and thought about this instead of doing his homework. Then, when it was late, he forced himself to do the work, leading him to go to bed around one AM. And he was so tired. Ron gulped down his potion in a haze, crawled under the warm covers, and fell asleep still thinking about ways to kiss up to Hermione. __


	17. Chapter 17

_The warm June air filled the night as Ron crept out of his home and into the burrow's yard, clutching his broom tightly. Luckily, it wasn't that hot, but the young Weasley was still eager to get out of it. As quietly as he could, he sidled over to the edge of his property and surreptitiously looked around the yard._

_"Tonks?"_

_A sudden shushing noise made Ron start, and he turned around to see a hedge blinking nervously at him._

_"Er... what the-?"_

_"Shhh!" Tonks said again. "I made myself into the colors of a hedge, but, god, hurry up Ron! If your mum catches me doing this for you, I'm toast."_

_Ron nodded quickly, eager to show her how thankful he was for her help._

_"Okay, well, change back so I can see you," he whispered, and soon Tonks had morphed into her usual radiant pink hairdo and pale skin._

_"There we go," she said, and Ron beckoned her closer._

_"Did you look at the picture?" he asked her, and she nodded._

_"I even popped over there earlier today to make sure that I didn't get off course, you know? Wouldn't do for the both of us to get lost."_

_"I'll say," Ron muttered. "So... er... how does this work?"_

_Tonks sighed._

_"Amateurs," she said teasingly. "No, it's okay. You just take my arm, and then I'll turn and BAM! We'll be there. It might be a bit uncomfortable. I recommend closing your eyes."_

_"Right," Ron said nervously, and he took hold of her arm with one hand and held his broomstick in the other. Instantly, Tonks turned, and everything went black. Ron squeezed his eyes shut and felt himself get enveloped into something like a tube. Oh, god. He couldn't breathe. Oh god. This was hell. And then, suddenly, hell was over. He was standing on a street facing a neat blue house surrounded by a white fence. His lips stretched into a grin, and he turned around and thanked Tonks quickly._

_"Thank you! Thanks so much. You're the only one that would do that for me... my brothers would tease, my mum and dad would never go for it, and I don't really know any other adults."_

_"So you're going to take the Knight bus home, then?"_

_Ron nodded._

_"Right. Well, I'm off to talk to Remus. We're doing some Order stuff tonight, and I want to talk to him about... well, I guess if it's meant to be you'll know. Bye, Ron!"_

_She apparated away, and Ron turned back towards the house. Quietly, he let himself through the gate, then walked around the left side of the house, into the garden. There, he looked up at the windows. Instantly, he saw one with a book leaning on the window pane._

_"Oh, that's got to be it," Ron muttered to himself. He climbed over the broom, then quickly leaned it upwards toward the window. Bobbing up and down in front of the dark room, he could just barely make out the sleeping figure in the bed. But from the amount of bushy hair there was, Ron knew it was definitely Hermione. He'd seen pictures of her mum, and the woman didn't have hair like Hermione's at all. Besides, there was no one else in the bed, and parents usually slept together. And, lastly, as his eyes swept around the room, Ron noticed a picture of him and Hermione, second year, right on her bedside table. It was more brightly lit than the other pictures it the room, as if it were on display. Suddenly, the picture changed, and there he and Hermione were in third year. Then fourth, and fifth, and then back to first. Ron recognized all these pictures, but he didn't understand how they were changing like that. Feeling extra curious, he tapped on Hermione's window. At first she didn't wake up, so Ron tapped the glass again, this time louder. He didn't want to just be there watching her sleep all night. That would be creepy. Of course, it could also be construed as romantic. But only guys like Cedric Diggory could possibly think of it that way._

_Hermione woke up on the fourth tap and looked around sleepily. At the sight of Ron outside of her window, she let out a little scream, then clapped her hands over her mouth. He saw her mouth his name, frowning, before slipping out of bed and walking over to the window as though in a trance. He noticed she was wearing nothing but a pair of boy shorts and a camisole tank top. He grinned widely. Yes, this visit was risky, but it definitely had its merits. Especially because, when she turned around to make sure the door was firmly shut, he saw that the shorts had the words 'Chudley Cannons' written on the butt._

_Excellent._

_Those had been a gag gift from Ginny a few years ago, but Ron had in no way had any idea that Hermione Jean Granger would ever actually wear them. He watched as Hermione attempted to surreptitiously put an exploding mint in her mouth, a Honeydukes invention that allowed somebody to have instantly good breath. Nice she'd thought about that for him. Ron hadn't even been thinking about it. He had brushed his teeth before he left, though. After the mint had finished its work, which took roughly five seconds, Hermione headed over to the window and opened it. Her minty fresh breath washed over him as she whispered,_

_"Ron! What are you doing here?"_

_Ron rolled his eyes._

_"Nice to see you too, sweetheart."_

_"I mean it, Ron! Why are you here? Is something wrong?"_

_"Yeah, something's wrong. I hadn't seen you for three weeks, and I missed you."_

_"Oh. That's all," Hermione said, breathing a sigh of relief. She sat down on her window seat and looked out at Ron, who's expression was now indignant._

_"Hey! Are you minimizing my suffering?"_

_"No, of course not," Hermione said, brushing it away quickly. Ron glared at her mockingly for a few seconds, then let his eyes search her moonlit room more._

_"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the moving picture frame._

_"It's a digital picture frame," Hermione said unblinkingly. "Remember how mum always wanted to take pictures of us at King's Cross at the end of each year? Well, these are them."_

_"That's brilliant," Ron said admiringly. "It's so like what wizards have. Except way different. But you know what I mean."_

_She kissed him in response, which did not go on very long because Ron nearly fell off of his broom after a few minutes. Hermione, overcome with giggles, gestured Ron into her bedroom, which he entered for the first time in his life, wincing._

_"Are-you-okay?" Hermione asked through her laughter._

_Ron raised his eyebrows._

_"Mione, I just almost fell off of my broomstick, and you're laughing to hard to even fret over me properly?"_

_Hermione calmed herself down, then sighed._

_"You're right. I'm sorry."_

_She walked up to Ron, put the back of her hand against his forehead, then smoothed his hair back several times. She pressed her lips against his cheeks, nose, neck, and forehead before pulling back and saying,_

_"Oh, I think you're alright."_

_"Well, thank merlin," Ron said, looking towards the sky and holding up his hands in gratitude._

_Hermione snorted._

_"More like 'Thank Healer Hermione'," she said, placing her hands on her hips._

_"Wow. That's actually sexier than one would initially think it is,"_

_"Ron!" Hermione laughed loudly, before remembering where they were. She buried her face in his shoulder to keep her parents from hearing her laughter, and Ron stroked her back, breathing in the way she smelled, the scent that had been his for nearly three school years now. Hermione pulled back after a while, wound her arms around Ron's neck, and searched his face. "So how've you been?" she asked quietly._

_Ron shrugged._

_"So-so. On the whole, it's been alright. Except then you read the Daily Prophet and everything just reminds you of how crappy the world is, and of course, having Fleur there is-"_

_Hermione jumped out of Ron's arms._

_"What? Fleur has been staying with you? Fleur Delecour?"_

_Ron started smirking._

_"Oh, is Healer Hermione jealous?"_

_"RON!"_

_"Don't yell!" Ron hissed. "Yeah, she is."_

_"Why? Why, Ron, why? Why is Fleur staying at your house?"_

_Ron took Hermione back in his arms and said,_

_"This is kind of satisfying for me." She glared up at him. "Calm down, will you? She's marrying Bill." Hermione's body did not un-tense, so Ron said,"Honestly, Mione. Would I have sneaked out to see you if I was secretly pining after Fleur?"_

_This seemed to make her a little bit happier, so she sighed and went to sit on her bed. Ron sat down next to her a few seconds later, feeling suddenly aware of the fact that he was on Hermione's bed. She'd been on his tons of times, but, as the dorm rules were strict, he'd never been on hers. And this wasn't even her dorm. This was her real home bed, the one she'd grown up sleeping in. It somehow made him feel closer to her, as if he knew a secret that not Harry or Viktor Krum or even Ginny (who was not at all a romantic adversary, but was- to be fair- another candidate for Hermione's best friend) knew yet. Hermione leaned over to Ron and put her head on his shoulder, and they sat there for quite some time until Ron said,_

_"So what've you been up to so far?"_

_Hermione shrugged, and Ron could feel her cheeks shift into a smile on his shoulder._

_"Well, I've been reading a lot, and I've also started this writing piece that I'm having fun with."_

_"What's it about?" Ron asked, and, as he looked at Hermione's face, he saw her blushing._

_"It's just about my life at Hogwarts. You know, so I can remember it when I'm old, and read it to my grandkids. I started it two summers ago, the year we got together. I just...being so happy with you made me really want to savor all of my years with you. I wouldn't have even thought about it unless we'd gotten together, but there you go. First I wrote fourth year, and over this school year I did fifth year, and now I'm going back and writing what I remember of first, second, and third."_

_"Can I see it?" Ron asked instantly, and Hermione's blush turned even brighter._

_"No!"_

_Once again, Ron decided to employ the best threat he knew._

_"I'll tickle you."_

_Hermione laughed at the familiar line, but stood her ground._

_"No, Ron."_

_"Okay, you asked for it," Ron said, and then he had placed his hands at her sides and was tickling her the best he could. Hermione started shrieking with laughter, squirming underneath him, but Ron refused to let up. Hermione put a pillow over her mouth to stifle her laughter and yelled,_

_"Ron, STOP!"_

_"Show me the book!" he demanded._

_"NO!"_

_"Then I will not stop!"_

_To be fair, Hermione held up pretty well under Ron's torture. But after a while she gave up and went to fetch the book. They lay down on her bed and read it together, Ron pointing out things that he remembered that Hermione hadn't, Hermione filling them in as they became more clear to her. When they were finished, Ron flopped over onto his back, registering what he had just read, and Hermione lay back with him, her head in the crook of his neck. He cradled her and stroked her hair, and she let her hand lie on his chest. It was absolutely perfect, that moment, so full of thoughts and calm and happiness. Both were tired, but neither were willing to fall asleep, so they forced themselves to stay awake. Ron sat up around four thirty in the morning._

_"I have to go," he said regretfully._

_Hermione looked startled, as if It hadn't occurred to her that he would be leaving._

_"Right," she said._

_"I have a present for you, though," Ron said brightly. "You might hate it, but it's for your seventeenth birthday. I knew we wouldn't be able to celebrate it, since it's in September, so I figured I could give you the more romantic of the gifts when we were on vacation."_

_"What is it?" Hermione asked impatiently. Ron reached into his pocket and pulled something out. A simple heart shaped pendant on a silver chain._

_"I saw the earrings that you wore on Valentine's Day and this reminded me of them."_

_"I love it, Ron. Thank you."_

_"Run your thumb over the charm," Ron said quickly. Hermione did, and it glowed red, a color similar to Ron's hair. Then it popped open. Inside was the picture Ginny had taken of the two on Valentine's Day, the tiny little image moving to show Ron's face as he saw Hermione in her dress, Hermione moving close to Ron, kissing him on the cheek, then accidentally the lips, and then just hugging him and laughing._

_"Wow," Hermione commented, but when she looked up at Ron her eyes were glowing with happiness. "Who are you and what have you done with Ron?"_

_"What do you mean?" Ron asked._

_"I wouldn't have thought you were capable of being so romantic," Hermione admitted. Ron sighed._

_"I can't argue with that. I think this must be a fluke."_

_Hermione laughed._

_"Or," Ron continued, "Maybe along with making me braver, smarter, and more mature, you also make me a teensy weensy bit of a romantic."_

_"No!" Hermione said in a shocked tone._

_"Yes," Ron said simply, before kissing her, grabbing his broom, and getting up. "Bye. It was nice seeing you."_

_Hermione nodded tensely, but, seemingly unable to take it, got off of the bed and ran to hug him._

_"I'll miss you even more now," she whispered._

_"Hence the locket," Ron said back. "That was supposed to make it easier."_

_Hermione chuckled, but refused to let go of him._

_"I promise I'll come visit. I can't stand the idea of Fleur being around you the whole summer with no me to monitor."_

_"Hermione, don't you trust me?" Ron asked, exasperated._

_"You?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's her I don't trust. This romantic streak is making you even more irresistible."_

_Ron snorted, then gave the top of her head a kiss before disentangling her from his arms._

_"Bye. I love you," he whispered._

_"I hope you don't get caught," said Hermione. "And I love you."_

_Ron climbed out the window and onto his broom, then tip toed into the street, stuck his wand arm out, and hopped onto the Knight Bus. Just before he boarded, he looked back at Hermione's house. She was leaning out her window, watching him and smiling sadly. Even in the moonlight, with no make up, and with un-brushed, bushy hair, she was still absolutely gorgeous to Ron. When she saw him looking at her, she gave him a little wave. And it was that moment that let Ron understand that he would never, ever fall in love with anyone else._


	18. Chapter 18

This whole thing was out of hand. The second Lavender appeared in the library, Ron should have realized that she was going to make this situation spiral out of control. But he hadn't realized how colossal the damage would be until Hermione started acting even worse than she had the first time she saw Ron snogging Lavender. She walked to class with her head held high, her eyes smoldering with anger. Instead of _not _looking at him, she'd angrily catch his eye, hold her gaze for ten seconds, and turn away with a cold or expressionless face. A few times, she'd bumped into him in the hall, and Ron hadn't been able to tell whether or not she'd done it on purpose, but couldn't ignore the goosebumps that leaped across his flesh at her touch. She never failed to instigate that reaction in him, and Ron wondered if Hermione Granger would ever know how much and how easily she could effect him. The way things were going, though, he thought not. The idea of Hermione knowing would mean he'd have to tell her, which wasn't happening because the idea scared him shi... well, a lot. And also, he didn't think he'd ever be given the opportunity, seeing as Hermione didn't seem as though she was ever going to stop having some reason to hate him.__

It had gotten to the point where Ron had attempted to stop caring and just let it go. This wasn't the way that he usually approached a situation, but it seemed like he would have to for this one. So he'd tried to just lean back and let it go and see what happened. But he wasn't able to do it. He'd written Hermione note after note trying to explain things to her, but they'd all gotten sent back to him. He'd attempted stopping her in the hallway and before class and even in the library, but she always figured out how to get away, and whenever Ron tried to chase after her, Lavender would surface from somewhere and either yell at him for paying attention to Hermione or figure out another way to distract him from her. Harry, of course, was too distracted with his own life to even bother caring about what was going on in Ron's, and Ron didn't really blame him. When the-chosen-one wasn't learning the most intimate details of a young Voldemort's life, he was stalking Draco Malfoy. So Ron did what any sane sixteen year old boy rapidly becoming less so would do. He went to his little sister. He went to Ginny.__

One night, when Harry was at a Dumbledore lesson, Lavender was teaching a fourth year how to put on eyeliner, and Hermione was on prefect duty with a Ravenclaw prefect, he approached the fifth year in the common room. She was sitting in the best seat in front of the fire, her knee pressed up against Dean's. When he saw that, Ron cleared his throat and raised his eyebrow at the two of them. Dean hurriedly moved left, and Ginny, noticing the look on Ron's face, said,__

_"_Dean, you might want to leave for this."__

Dean stood up quickly and Ron took his place on the couch, making a point to sit much further away from Ginny than Dean had to show all the extra room on the couch. __

_"_What's up?" Ginny asked, but Ron, unwilling to have this conversation in the first place, didn't respond to her at first. It wasn't until an exasperated Ginny sighed and said, "I know it's about Hermione, and I know you're in love with her, so lets stop beating around the bush and just get to it," that Ron decided to start talking.__

_"_I need help," he said without preamble. Instantly, his mind flashed to the dream where he told Harry that he had to tell Hermione he loved her. Somehow, that seemed like a much better thing to ask someone for help for. Happier. More full of promise. "I need to get Hermione talking to me again."__

Ginny scowled.__

_"_Yeah. I know. I'm not stupid."__

_"_Okay... well, that's good, because you're going to need to be extraordinarily brilliant to crack this case."__

_"_It shouldn't be that hard," Ginny said, shrugging and pulling a notebook out of her bag. "What have you done so far?"__

Ron raised his eyebrows.__

_"_She... she hasn't talked to you about this?"__

_"_No. Which is why this is pretty bad, I'd reckon."__

Oh, no. If Hermione was so fuming she wouldn't tell Ginny what Ron was doing to get their relationship back, he didn't know what Ginny could do. His little sister was a huge asset to him because Hermione talked to her, told her things she never told Ron. Ron had depended on the girl-talk thing to get him past this. But now... Ron swallowed.__

_"_Well, I've written her notes in class and sent by owl. And I've tried to talk to her a bunch of times, because she always sends the aforementioned notes back to me. Sometimes I chase her when she runs away from me, too."__

Ginny shook her head.__

_"_Uhg. None of that is nearly good enough."__

_"_Not even the fact that I nearly chased her into the girls' toilet before realizing where it went?"__

_"_Well, that's progress," Ginny admitted, jotting the fact down in her notebook. "But it would have been better if you actually went in. If you'd stood in front of the door, Hermione wouldn't have had any way to escape. Plus, making up in the bathroom is somehow clandestine and... steamy."__

_"_Ginny!" Ron said, repulsed. __

_"_Well, I'm not saying you want to snog around that stench, but-"__

_"_Moving on," Ron said, halting her. "What do I do, Ginny?"__

_"_Oh, leave it to me," Ginny said, a mischievous look crossing her face. "I'll have her speaking to you in a matter of weeks."__

_"_Let's make it days. I miss her too much to let it be weeks."__

_"_You were studying in the library with her all the time when you were with Lavender! And on prefect duty!" __

Ron looked frustrated.__

_"_But we weren't really allowed to interact in public, because she was that mad at me, and I missed that even while we were studying. I miss being able to just catch up to her in the hallway and tell her a joke, or get her attention by annoying her for homework help."__

That was how desperate Ron was. He was spilling his guts to his sister, the girl with the loudest mouth in the world. Speaking of, the girl who was also currently writing down his every word.__

_"_Ginny, what the hell are you doing?" Ron barked. __

_"_Writing down your every word," Ginny said, confirming his suspicion.__

_"_Why?" Ron said angrily. "I don't want my words on written record, they were for ears only, not eyes."__

_"_This is going to help you in the long run," Ginny told him. "I'm going to use it for when you send her flowers."__

_"_Flowers?" Ron said, trying to get his voice down to a lower octave. It didn't work, and Ginny spared him one look of disdain before going back to her notes.__

_"_Yes, Ron. Flowers. First, some lilies, because Hermione likes those. And then, if that doesn't work, a single red rose. And if that doesn't work, a dozen red roses. And if those don't work, an orchid. I love those, they're really delicate and graceful and pretty, you know?"__

_"_No," Ron said without hesitating. "I really, really don't."__

Ginny put down her quill and notebook, looking more exasperated then ever. She turned to Ron, looking him in the eyes to make sure he understood, and when she spoke it was very, very slow and articulate. Ron liked neither the way she was demeaning him nor the way she had a sparkle in her eyes that showed a good plot.__

_"_If you want to win back Hermione's favor, you need to be romantic," Ginny informed him, "You need to be truthful, extremely truthful. And, to be honest, Ron, you'll need to embarrass yourself just a little bit. But, of course, I promise that it'll all work out in the end," She held out her hand. "Shake on it?"__

Ron hesitated.__

_"_There will be no... er... singing... or... er... public reciting of poetry in this deal, right?" he asked.__

Ginny smirked.__

_"_You write poems about Hermione? Awww. I could really use that."__

_"_I do not! It was just an example," Ron said indignantly. Ginny sighed.__

_"_Oh, but that was going to be your shining moment! Fine. I will exclude any singing and public poetry recitation my plans may involve. I will not, however, exclude the private recitation of poetry. Oh, and, um, someone's going to have to get rid of Lavender."__

Ron tensed.__

_"_Could you do that for me?" he pleaded in a small voice. Ginny shook her head. "Wow. You show no mercy."__

_"_Hey! I took out the singing, didn't I? How much more can you ask from a girl?"__

_"_So, so much," Ron muttered, but Ginny, luckily for him, didn't hear him. She was too busy writing up her plans.__

The lilies didn't work. Neither did the single rose. Neither did the dozen roses. And neither did the orchid. Ron had told Ginny to just concentrate on getting Hermione talking to him and happy with him again, and then they'd focus on the whole love part. But he wasn't getting anywhere with either, and he absolutely refused to do anything else Ginny wanted to unless he knew for a fact that Hermione was in love with him. After begging Hermione to forgive Ron, and attempting to get Lavender to break up with him so that Ron wouldn't have to do it, Ginny gave up. Ron gave up. Hermione remained cold. And Harry remained totally and completely out of the loop. One night -two weeks after Ron and Ginny decided to abandon ship- Ron was sitting at his usual prefect post when Hermione failed to show up. At first, he thought she was simply going to be late, trying to punish him for being a total and complete arse. But two hours later, he realized that this was not the case. Hermione didn't show up at all, and Ron knew that she would never completely ditch prefect duties just because of petty differences. Teenage hormones, Hermione had said again and again, were no reason to let everything else in your life slip away. These comments, of course, had been directed towards Ron's missing prefect duty because of his Lavender snogging, but Ron supposed the essence here was the same. Which was why, among other things, he decided to cover for Hermione when McGonagall showed up looking for them at the end of their duty.__

_"_Weasley? Where's Miss Granger?"__

Ron cleared his throat.__

_"_She... er... just left, Professor. Said she had to go finish some homework that she hadn't done yet, said she wasn't needed anymore. I let her go."__

McGonagall frowned.__

_"_That's interesting. Because I specifically told her earlier today that she needed to stay here after duty so that I could talk to the two of you. And, furthermore, Mr. Weasley, I just came from the tower. If Miss Granger just left, I would have come across her on my way."__

Oops. Ron didn't know where to go with this, so he looked at the floor and remained silent.__

_"_Well, alright. If you care about her enough to blatantly lie to me about that, I suppose I can just let her off this one time. But if she does it again, she will be in trouble, Mr. Weasley. Please relay that message to her when you go find her and get her from wherever she is."__

_"_Er- why do I need to?" Ron asked.__

McGonagall raised an eyebrow.__

_"_Because I know for a fact that she is not in the Gryffindor tower. I was just there to tell Miss Patil for the third time that she is not allowed to charge younger students for makeup lessons. And if Miss Granger isn't in the tower and isn't at prefect duty, she is out-of-bounds, which could mean a detention. So, Mr. Weasley, I recommend you take this pass and go find her."__

Ron had no choice but to take the pass that McGonagall summoned and go search for Hermione. He knew where she would be, anyways. If she wasn't in the common room, and she wasn't in her dorm, she had to be in the library. He hurried there, clutching tightly to the pass, and wishing more then anything that he didn't have to be the one to go and collect Hermione. It was never good to break her from her studies when she didn't want to stop. But when he got there, he was surprised to see that Hermione was not studying at all. Her eyes were closed, her head resting on her book, her fingers clutched loosely around her quill. Ron briefly entertained the idea that Hermione would be grouchier yet if he woke her from a nap, but, deciding that there could be nothing worse then her anger when torn from her studies, whispered her name. She didn't wake up. He said her name louder. Nothing. He poked her as he said her name. Nothing. He checked to see if she was breathing. Definitely. He shouted her name and banged on the table.__

Nothing.__

Feeling supremely nervous, Ron did the only thing he could think of. He started putting Hermione's books in her bag as loudly as he could, and, when she didn't wake up, slung the bag over his shoulder. Then he reached down and scooped her up bridal style. He was shaking inside as he looked at her sleeping head resting on his shoulder, closer than it had even been before to his own face. Slowly, tentatively, Ron reached up to brush a piece of hair away from Hermione's mouth. As soon as his hand touched her cheek, he felt her burning up. He drew in a sharp intake of breath, and immediately started to panic. Hermione was ill. She had a fever. It was just a fever. Why was he so afraid? Ron swallowed hard, inwardly begging himself to calm down. He couldn't. He'd never seen Hermione get sick before. The thought alarmed him more than it should have. He paced, with her in his arms, until he came up with something. Hesitantly, Ron closed his eyes and whispered,__

_"_Dobby?"__

After a few seconds, there was a crack, and Dobby the house-elf appeared right in front of Ron, looking baffled but pleased.__

_"_Mister Wheezy!" he said happily. "What can Dobby do for you?"__

Suddenly, his eyes found Hermione's limp form in Ron's arms. He looked questioningly up at Ron.__

_"_She's ill," Ron said quickly. "And I can't get her to wake up. I need a favor, Dobby. Is that alright?" The elf nodded, and Ron managed to smile at him. "Go to the Hospital Wing and get a Pepper-up potion for Hermione, alright? Then, apparate right outside of the entrance to the boys' dorms and give it to me, okay?"__

Dobby nodded. With a snap of his fingers, he was gone. Ron exited the library, still carrying Hermione, and walking as fast as he could. He wondered what would happen if she woke up, or if Lavender saw him in this situation. This could potentially end very, very badly. But Ron didn't care. He was too nervous about Hermione being sick, and his mind didn't have room to worry about much else for a very long amount of time. By the time he got to the tower, Dobby was already there, clutching onto the potion.__

_"_Thanks, Dobby," Ron said, looking relieved as he took the potion from Dobby.__

_"_You is welcome, sir. Dobby is glad he could be of help to any friend of Harry Potter."__

With a crack, Dobby was gone. Ron turned and headed up to his dorm, registering how light and easy to carry Hermione was in his arms. He wondered why that was. Sure, he was a Keeper, but he wasn't extremely muscley. Not to say he didn't have any muscles at all. He just wasn't Cormac McLaggen. Wincing as he remembered Hermione going to the party with McLaggen, he opened the door to his room and stepped in before closing it nearly silently. If the snores of all the boys in the room didn't wake Hermione up, Ron didn't know what would. He lay her on his bed and shut the curtains, casting a _muffalaito _charm around them so that the boys couldn't hear them and another charm that made it so they couldn't hear the boys. Then he went to the bathroom and quietly filled a glass of water and wet a washcloth. Gently as he could, he lay it down on Hermione's forehead. She shifted in her sleep, but didn't wake up. Ron bit his lip. She would need to wake up in order to take the potion, and he didn't exactly know how to do that. He also thought that she might need to take her heavy school sweater off in order to cool off, but he didn't want to undress her in any way. He could get in huge trouble with her for that. So he resigned himself to dragging up an uncomfortable wooden chair (he could have gotten a better one, but the idea of leaving Hermione's side made him, for some reason, very nervous) and just re-wetting her washcloth whenever it got warm.__

_"_Hermione, you need to wake up," Ron whispered in her ear. "Just for a bit... please? So you can take a Pepper-up potion and get back to your dorm."__

She didn't wake up. She didn't even shift in her sleep. All throughout the night, her face had been shifting into different shapes, worried frowns and angry frowns, or simply calm. Now, it remained in a worried frown. And Ron hated it. He didn't think she'd taken her Dream Potion, which meant it was a wild card as to what she was dreaming about. He reached over and gulped some of his own potion down. Now she'd be one night behind him, but that was okay. He didn't care either way. He watched as she whimpered in her sleep. This could not be a good dream she was having.__

_"_Hermione," Ron whispered. "Are you okay?"__

No answer.__

_"_Okay," Ron said, his voice catching. "Sorry."__

Sorry. The word felt so delicious to say... he hadn't really been able to tell her sorry, he'd just yelled it after her. But this was calm, and peaceful, and there was no chance of Lavender coming up to interrupt them. So Ron put his hand very near to Hermione's on his mattress and said,__

_"_Really. I am sorry, you know. About all the hell I've put you through this year. And, if you think about it, you were quite lenient about still being friends... in private, I mean. I guess-" he laughed quietly, "I guess you missed me? I missed you. I really missed you. I mean, how could I not? You are amazing, and you are the best thing in my life. Even falling in love with you without having you reciprocate is better than not falling in love with you at all. Because without you, I wouldn't feel half the things that I do, and I'd probably be even more of an insufferable pig than I am now. Everything, Hermione, is because of you. Because I love you. I mean, I know it's awful. But, Hermione, because I love you, I let Lavender snog me. I'm just so jealous all the time, and you weren't showing any feelings for me, and I needed to make you see me as someone who could be snogged, you know?"__

He sighed heavily, resting his head on both of their hands.__

_"_Because I love you, I live for prefect duty, live for the one time of day that we can interact and be friends and I can even give you hints that you absolutely refuse to pick up on... and that's okay, really, because I hate confrontation. Because I love you, I pick little fights with you, just to see you passionate about something, and passionate you are," Here, he let out a shaky chuckle. "I think I do that because my parents used to bicker, too. About dad's muggle stuff, you know... until he just got tired of it and stopped the fights before they started. I'm sort of going from their relationship, using it as an example. I don't really have another one to go from. My mum knits, too, as you know... I wonder if you're a good cook, like her. Oh, and, because I love you, Slughorn's making us take this potion. It's all my fault, Hermione. He knows I love you, and he took a bet, and everyone is suffering because of me. I feel so, so terrible. And because I love you... that's why my deepest regret is not taking you to the Yule Ball. Not whatever bull reason you've made up in your head to convince yourself that I don't."__

Here, he picked his head up and slid his hand the short distance to hers. He held her small hand loosely in his large one and tenderly ran his thumb back and forth across her soft palm. In her sleep, Hermione smiled, and Ron knew that this tickled. Had he been doing it when Hermione was awake, she'd probably be trying not to laugh. She was extraordinarily ticklish, and she always had been.__

_"_Because I love you, Hermione... well, sometimes I think you love me back. I mean, I don't have to reach far to get it, do I? Sometimes it's just there, in a flash, and I think that you're giving me a hint or a smile that tells me you need me the way I need you. But then it's gone and I'm back to being confused again, telling myself that you couldn't ever possibly love me, because you are a gorgeous, genius angel, and I'm just... Ron. So I look away and tell myself that I'm just making it up because I so badly want that to be there."__

He felt tears springing into his eyes, so he dropped Hermione's hand and leaned back.__

_"_Right. Because I love you, I could never tell you any of that."__

He avoided looking at her for about a half an hour, too afraid. After his blush had subsided somewhat, he placed his hand on her forehead. Her fever was worse than before. He stood up, put his arm around her back, and tilted her upwards. He unstoppered the potion and raised his hand to her lips, trying to get her to open her mouth. She did. Quickly, Ron poured the potion down her throat. Hermione woke up, coughing, and Ron quickly ducked out of the way. She looked around, unsure as to where she was, but her fever was so strong (the potion took a bit of time to start working) she stopped caring, and leaned back and went back to sleep, burrowing her nose deeper into Ron's pillow. He breathed a sigh of relief and got back into his uncomfortable chair, confident that no one had heard him. And with that happy thought in mind, he fell asleep. Little did Ron know that he was wrong. One other person had heard him.__

But it wasn't Hermione. It was Neville Longbottom.__

_"Ron, stop fiddling with the dress robes!" Hermione said, trying not to laugh. She slapped his wrist away, causing him to make a face at her, and she giggled again. "Oh, honestly. These are so much better than the last pair, what's the big deal?"_

_"I'm not used to wearing such fancy clothes," Ron admitted, distress evident in his voice. "It's horrid."_

_Hermione bit her lip, thinking. Then she said,_

_"Ron, do you like my dress robes?"_

_Her dress robes happened to show a lot of cleavage at the angle he was looking at them from. He nodded enthusiastically._

_"Well if you keep playing with your collar and complaining about your robes, I'm not going to wear these. But if you keep quiet, not only will I wear them, I'll make up an excuse to leave early so that we can go snog in the room of requirement."_

_Ron stared at her for a second before saying, "Cunning wench," which caused Hermione to laugh harder. "Fine. You know how to play the game and play it well."_

_She tried not to smirk, she really did._

_"Thank you, Ron."_

_"I don't see why Slughorn has to throw this stupid Christmas party anyways," Ron complained. "Seriously, Hermione. It sucks royal hippogriph."_

_"I can always spend the night chatting with McLaggen," Hermione threatened casually. "He was obviously my second choice for a date."_

_"Oh, obviously," Ron, who was well aware of how annoying Hermione found McLaggen, said._

_They moved down the hall together and into Slughorn's party, where they posed for pictures with Slughorn and grabbed two butterbeers._

_"How are you two?" Harry asked, walking over with Ginny's arm entwined in his._

_Ron ignored him._

_"Does he know you have a boyfriend?" he demanded, referring to McLaggen. Ginny snorted._

_"Charming greeting Ron, really. You're such a Casanova."_

_"Isn't he?" Hermione asked, smiling proudly up at Ron._

_"She likes the possessiveness," Harry muttered to Ginny. "Don't ask me why, but it makes her happy."_

_Hermione's hand tightened in Ron's._

_"Hey, Hermione, have you met the Vampire?" Ginny asked, and Hermione bit her lip._

_"I don't exactly know if I want to..."_

_Ron was still staring at McLaggen, who was staring at Hermione and was completely oblivious to the wrath of her overprotective boyfriend._

_"Honestly, Ron, don't you trust her?" Harry muttered under his breath. Ron nodded._

_"With all my heart. It's McLaggen I don't trust."_

_Hermione and Ginny exchanged exasperated glances._

_"Kiss me," Ron said suddenly._

_"What?" Hermione asked, horrified. "No!"_

_"C'mon! Then he'll know we're dating!"_

_"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione said, puffing up angrily. "You can't just-"_

_"Let's go," Harry muttered to Ginny, and they both rushed away from their friends, who were gearing up for a good argument._

_"I can kiss you whenever you want, you're my girlfriend," Ron was saying impatiently._

_"No you can not," Hermione replied indignantly. "There are boundaries. You can't kiss me in front of our teachers, I can't have them loosing respect for me!"_

_"You do realize that almost every teacher in the school has walked in on us snogging at some point, right?" he asked._

_"Shut up," Hermione said, turning bright red._

_Ron stared down at her, thinking. Hermione took a sip of butterbeer._

_"Oh, you've got a bit of foam on your..." he said, and then he reached up a thumb and gently wiped it off. Hermione's butterbeer fell to the floor as she reached up to throw her arms around him and kiss him. Ron pulled back, smirking. "I win."_

_"I don't even care," Hermione said happily. "I love it when you do that." Suddenly, her face turned grim. "I'm going to miss you over vacation."_

_"It's just a week," Ron said reasonably. But he knew that he'd miss her too. "Can we leave now?"_

_"Where's the nearest classroom?"_

_"Just down the hall."_

_"Let's go!"_

_They hurried out of Slughorn's party and ran to the classroom, shutting the door quickly behind them. Hermione's hands instantly went into Ron's hair, and he lifted her up onto the desk, mouth insistent on hers._

_"As much as I love you in these dress robes..." she said, and Ron laughed._

_"Feel free to remove them. I've got jeans on underneath."_

_"Great," Hermione moaned as his lips moved to her neck._

_Suddenly, the door swung open to reveal Snape pulling Draco Malfoy into the classroom. Ron sprung away from Hermione, Snape and Malfoy both made disgusted faces. There was an awkward pause, then Snape said, "Ten points from Gryffindor!" grabbed Malfoy, and headed out of the room._

_Ron and Hermione stared at the door for a second before collapsing into a fit of laughter. The butterbeer seemed to have effected their senses. Ron rested his head on Hermione's as he laughed, and her nose was pressed against his neck._

_"Remember when I said almost every single one of the teachers has walked in on us snogging?" he asked. Hermione nodded. "Make that every single one of the teachers."_

_"We should really find new places to snog. Now where were we?" _


	19. Chapter 19

The morning came very shortly, and Ron woke up from the dream all too quickly. He sighed as he looked at the clock. It was seven AM. Uhg. Why had he woken up? Was it because the dream was about to merge into the future? Ron had just gotten to sixth year, this year, and he and Hermione had smelled each other in Amortentia. She said she smelled his hair, and he smelled hers, too. Ron wondered if that was what Hermione smelled in real life. Needless to say, it had led to some epic snogging. But then the scene had changed, furthering into sixth year. Slughorn's Christmas party had been hilarious, and probably better than it would have been had he gone in real life. Ron hadn't actually seen anything incriminating to what was going to happen to him, but he had seen his birthday. He'd spent the whole evening with Hermione in the Room of Requirement, and it had been wonderful. Ron sincerely doubted his real seventeenth birthday, which was in a week, would be nearly as good. Then the dream had shifted, once again, and Ron had delved into cute little moments about the end of their sixth year and the summer before seventh. None of them had said anything about the choices Ron and Hermione would make about anything Harry related. They were just moments, little bits of fluff and romance, calm and happiness. The dream had never changed so many times in one night, shown so many little scenes. He wondered why that was.__

Knowing that Hermione would awaken very, very soon now, Ron quickly got out of his chair and went over to Harry's trunk. He pulled out the cloak and threw it over himself just in time for Hermione to wake up. She felt the cool cloth on her head and frowned. She looked around her environment and gasped, fully aware of the fact that this was not the girls' dormitory. Hermione hastily leaned down and sniffed the pillow, then breathed in sharply.__

_"_Ron?"__

Ron felt himself swallowing hard as half his instincts urged him to answer her call, and the other half implored him to stay still. He watched as Hermione leaped out of bed and looked around. Then she crossed the room over to Harry's bed and drew back his curtains. He was snoring loudly, so Hermione grabbed the pillow off of Ron's bed and slammed it down onto Harry's head. He woke up with a loud snort, and blearily looked around for the culprit.__

_"_Hermione? Wha-?"__

_"_Did you bring me up here last night?" Hermione demanded.__

_"_What?" Harry asked.__

_"_I was sick, and someone brought me up here and took care of me. Was it you?"__

And that was when Ron did it. He directed his wand at Harry and whispered,__

_"Confoundus_."__

Instantly, Harry's expression became confused, and he hesitantly said,__

_"_Yeah... I think so."__

Hermione's expression softened.__

_"_Thank you," she said, smiling at him, and Harry gave her a slow nod before turning over on his back and frowning up at the ceiling. "I should have done something the second I felt myself getting sick, but lately I've been so stressed I barely noticed and didn't really care, either."__

_"_Yeah," Harry said again. Understanding that his work was done, Ron tip toed out of the room and stuffed the cloak in his pocket to return it later. He felt as though he had just accidentally pushed Harry and Hermione together, but something in his gut had told him it might be good not to let her know that it had been he who had taken care of her last night. Maybe it was just him being a stupid boy. Maybe not.__

***__

Romilda Vane. Just thinking the name made something inside Ron burst with excitement. Whenever he said it, he felt like he was floating on air. Romilda... what a beautiful name. Vane was pretty, too. But he hoped, he really hoped, that someday it would be Romilda Weasley. They sounded great together, didn't they? Plus, if Ron married Romilda, they would have the same initials! And how hot was that? So hot. Distantly, Ron registered that Harry was pulling him somewhere, but he didn't pay any mind to that, instead turning his thoughts to the way Romilda's bushy brown hair fell down her back... no, wait a minute. Romilda had glossy black hair. It wasn't bushy at all. Who was he thinking of? Right. Hermione. Wasn't he in love with Hermione? Ron contemplated this for a few moments. Romilda, Hermione. Hermione, Romilda.__

No, it was definitely Romilda. Right? __

_"_Professor!" Ron heard Harry call out, and Ron instantly became excited and nervous at the same time. He was about to meet Romilda! He imagined her rushing into his arms, kissing him on the mouth, and pulling back to tell him that he was the best snog she'd ever had. He straightened his posture as Harry pulled him into the room. And... it was empty. Other than Slughorn and Harry, it was empty. Ron felt crushed. He heard another voice that didn't seem like it was apart of him at all asking where Romilda was, and felt a rush of relief when he found out that she wasn't there yet. Good. That might actually give him time to calm himself down. Luckily, Slughorn seemed to be thinking along those lines, too. He handed Ron a tonic that would calm his nerves, and Ron gratefully drank. Suddenly, the sensation that he was floating on air completely vanished, and Ron was brought back to real life. He was, in fact, in love with Hermione. She wasn't talking to him. Today was his seventeenth birthday, and nothing had gotten better. He asked Slughorn what had happened to him, and Harry and Slughorn told him, laughing a little bit. __

God, how depressing. He'd been in love with the wrong girl with that love potion, but at least he'd been happy. He heard Slughorn say something about a pick-me-up, and, a few seconds later, accepted a glass of something. Ron hoped it was alcohol. He was of age, after all. He could drink it now. He tipped the liquid into his mouth, and suddenly he felt his throat close up. He tried and tried to breathe, tried to swallow his saliva, but he couldn't breath and couldn't swallow. He lay on the ground, rocking his body back and forth and willing to try anything to get himself to live. He couldn't die now! He wasn't happy enough. He hadn't achieved what he wanted to in his life. Ron Weasley couldn't end like this. Suddenly, he felt something get shoved down his throat. He took in a deep, gasping breath, just before the lack of air made everything fade into blackness.__

_"Where's Hermione?" Harry frowned, looking around the room._

_"Dunno," Ron shrugged. "She must still be getting ready."_

_Harry rolled his eyes._

_"Of course. The one time she chooses to be girly, and she takes absolutely forever doing it, therefor inconveniencing us."_

_"Good merlin," Ron said, and Harry, thinking that this was enthusiasm at his words, proceeded in speaking with even more vigor._

_"See? You know too. I mean-"_

_"No, Harry, that wasn't about what you were saying, that was a load of crap. Look at her!"_

_Hermione was crossing the yard to them, a nervous grin stretched across her face. Ron unceremoniously grabbed her, pulled her to him, and snogged her senseless, while Harry stood next to them, wondering how he'd gotten himself into this situation and how he could get himself out._

_"I love you," Ron said to Hermione. Harry, without even bothering to make an excuse, walked away._

_"I love you too," Hermione laughed. "So... you like the dress?"_

_Ron desperately wanted to make some joke about her being better looking out of it, but it seemed too tasteless and was sure to be awkward, so, with much difficulty, he decided not to. Instead, he kissed her again, privately hoping that he'd somehow be able to keep his hands off of her for at least a little bit of the ceremony, lest he embarrass the both of them in front of his endless legions of relatives._

_"So, I met your Auntie Murial," Hermione said, nuzzling Ron's nose with hers. "She told me I had bad posture and skinny ankles."_

_Ron kissed her forehead._

_"You have brilliant posture and perfect ankles," he told her, and Hermione smiled wider._

_"She also asked what my intentions towards you were. Seemed to think I only wanted to be with you for the goblin-made tiara."_

_Ron pulled back, his hand over his heart._

_"Hermione!" he said mockingly. "You gold digger! I knew it... you want me for my Auntie Murial!"_

_"And also your chocolate frog card collection," Hermione said, smirking and cocking an eyebrow at him. Ron shook his head, teasing her, and she burst out laughing. "Okay," Hermione said, coming back into his embrace. "I can never keep a straight face around you for too long."_

_"That's right. So pucker up," Ron said, and Hermione did as he asked._

_Later, when they headed into the ceremony, and Hermione started to get misty eyed, Ron didn't roll his eyes or even tease her about it. He took her hand and held it the whole party, never letting go once. He wouldn't let her dance with anyone else, and she didn't want to. Many people claimed that they'd be next to the alter, and, had Hermione or Ron actually heard anyone say this, they would have probably blushed a lot. But they didn't, so all the blushing that went on was purely for romantic, happy reasons. And that was just the way they'd have this wedding._

_"_Hermione, Hermione!" Neville shouted, running into the library. Madam Pince shot him an angry look, but Neville payed no mind to her, and continued towards Hermione.__

_"_Neville?" Hermione responded, confused. At the look on his face, her expression became concerned. "Neville, what's happened?"__

_"_It's Ron," Neville said, and Hermione's expression immediately became cold. Until Neville said, "He's been poisoned."__

It took a few seconds for this to register. When it did, Hermione's eyes became wider, more worried, and definitely a little teary.__

_"_What?"__

_"_They think it was an accident, but... well... I don't really know the whole story. I just saw him being brought into the hospital wing and asked Harry and he told me Ron had been poisoned and that's when I went to find you."__

_"_Oh," Hermione said. She sat down in her chair. "Oh," she said again, and suddenly she slammed her forehead onto her book. She let her head remain there, soaking in the smell of the relatively new pages of her textbook, where everything was so much safer. Once she had composed herself, she looked up at Neville. Her plan was to lie and say she wasn't going, then run to the hospital wing as soon as he was gone. She couldn't stay away, and yet, she was just so _angry_. "I'll go down there later. To be with Harry, you know. He's been so helpful to me lately."__

_"_With what?" Neville asked.__

_"_Well... there was this time that I was sick, and he brought me up to his dorm and put me in Ron's bed and gave me pepper-up potion and basically nursed me back to health."__

Neville swallowed.__

_"_Er- Hermione?" he said nervously. "Where do you think Ron was during all this? I mean, it was his bed, after all."__

_"_Probably with Lavender," Hermione said in a convincingly indifferent voice. "I don't know."__

_"_Hermione... I was awake that night. I couldn't sleep, and Ron was so nervous he didn't cast the muffalaito charm well enough. It wasn't Harry who found you in the library and carried you back to the dorm. It was Ron."__

Hermione looked up at Neville, suddenly at a loss for words. Finally, she said,__

_"_No... that can't be. I mean... no. Harry said it was him!"__

_"_Ron confunded him," Neville told her. "I don't know why, but he let Harry take all the credit. Harry was snoring away the whole time."__

_"_Oh my god," Hermione whispered. "Um... er... so, what exactly-?"__

_"_Well, he carried you back from here, I guess. And you wouldn't wake up. So he put you on his bed and started lying cool washcloths on your forehead. He didn't even take off your sweater because he didn't want to make you mad, but he talked to you and waited for you to wake up. When it got really bad I guess he tilted you forward and opened your mouth for you so you could take the potion. And then he spent the night right next to you in this really, really uncomfortable looking wooden chair."__

_"_He wouldn't even get on the bed with me?" Hermione said. "That's surprisingly gentleman-like."__

_"_You were lucky," Neville shrugged. "That was a really nice thing he did for you, and he didn't even get any credit. You're not even talking to him."__

Hermione, white-faced, suddenly stood up.__

_"_You say... he's been poisoned?"__

Neville nodded. And without a second thought, Hermione abandoned her books and rushed out of the library. Neville gathered her books, grinning, and muttered to himself,__

_"_My work here is done."__

_"RON!" she screamed, running out of the tent after him. "RON!"_

_He continued to make his way through the rain, bounding too the apparation point._

_Panic seemed to seize Hermione as she began choking back desperate sobs._

_"This isn't you, Ron!" she said. "This is the locket! It's hurting you, but you _know _it's wrong. You know how much I love you, how much I need you, and how I'd never leave you for anyone or anything! So don't do this to me."_

_He paused, and while she could only see the back of his head, she knew his mind was changing. In one instant he had rushed back to her and pulled her into his arms and was kissing her soundly._

_"Jesus, Hermione," he whispered as she sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry." She slapped him across the face in response, then kissed him again. "I probably deserved that."_

_"Damn straight you did," she growled. She was shaking._

_"I can't go back in there," he said, frowning. "Harry's going to kill me."_

_"Give him time to cool off. He'll be okay. He'll understand. Because you _didn't _leave, and that's what matters."_

_Ron groaned._

_"God, imagine if I had. Thanks for pulling me back, love."_

_"You're welcome," she murmured._

_They walked back into the tent together. Harry looked up from his chair as Ron came back in. He instantly bristled._

_"I didn't-" Ron started, but Harry just snorted derisively and stomped out of the tent into the rain._

_Hermione and Ron stared after him for a few seconds before Hermione took her wand out and tried them off. Then she pulled Ron over to her bed and they cuddled together, listening to the rain pounding fiercely on the tent. They were so close they could hear the other's heartbeat. It came on very suddenly, the surge of emotion. But one second all they were doing was lying there, and the next Hermione felt an overwhelming sense of love for Ron, because he had stayed because of her. He was hers. So she told him._

_"I'm going to marry you someday."_

_In response, Ron kissed her hair._

_"Okay," was all he said. And with that, it was agreed upon. Hermione looked at him with her eyes a shade darker then usual. Ron swallowed hard. He knew that look. He leaned in to kiss her, but this kiss felt different. This kiss was somehow communicating fear. Because they both knew perfectly well that they might not ever have the opportunity to get married. They might not reach twenty three, or twenty six, or even nineteen. But there was still something in the fact that Ron had just signed away his heart to Hermione at the age of seventeen. Only because he'd known her since he was eleven made him comfortable in doing this. But it felt like they'd been going toward it all their lives, anyways. Wasn't this the way it was supposed to go with childhood sweethearts?_

_Hermione kissed him more intensely, and Ron felt his grip tighten around her waist._

And suddenly, Ron heard her voice. But it wasn't in the dream. It was in real life. Talking about Slughorn. The combination of Hermione snogging him in the dream and Hermione's voice outside of it made him sigh,__

_"_Er-my-nee."__

All voices stopped, and Ron struggled to pull out of the dream, but suddenly another part began, and he succumbed to sleep.__

_"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" Ron screamed, sobbing hysterically as he ran down the dungeon. "HERMIONE!"_

_"Shhhh, Ron!" Harry said tensely, but Ron refused to be quiet. He kept on yelling out her name._

_"HERMIONE!"_

_"Ron, honestly!" Harry said angrily. "Pull yourself together!"_

_In a second, Ron had pinned him to the wall. Harry looked wide eyed at his friend, whose face was pale as a ghost, who had tear tracks down his cheeks, whose eyes had never, ever been more desperate._

_"Shut up," Ron said in a low voice. "Shut. Up."_

_Harry gulped and tried to free himself, but Ron wasn't done._

_"You have NO idea how this feels," he bellowed, slamming his fist into Harry's nose. "So SHUT UP!"_

_He released Harry and walked over to the wall, then began ramming himself into it. Suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder, but it wasn't Harry's. It was Luna's._

_"Ron, I know you're worried," she said in her usual dreamy voice. "But this... it isn't going to help her. You need to keep your emotions in check. Now, I know you'd like to marry her and have several bushy-haired redheaded super-offsprings, but in order to do that you need to think fast, okay, Ron?"_

_A shocked Ron nodded at her, taking in a few deep breaths and throwing a half hearted apology in the direction of Harry. He didn't fully mean it, but Harry seemed to appreciate it anyways. Ron maintained an odd sense of calm throughout the whole rest of the time they were in the basement. When Dobby appeared, he didn't freak out. He passably mimicked Wormtail, and he didn't freak out. But when he and Harry burst out of the basement and saw Hermione unconscious, Ron lost it again. All of his anger came back to him, making his heart pump so loud he could hear it in his ears. His eyes widened as he saw the knife in Bellatrix's hand, and suddenly Ronald Weasley went totally and completely crazy. He flew at Bellatrix, his wand out. She started to run, but Ron literally threw a stunning spell at her, and suddenly she froze. Everyone stopped to look. None of the Malfoys came to her rescue, so perhaps they were all angry at her, or fascinated with the situation. It seemed as though Bellatrix Lestrange had, for the first time in a long time, been cornered. Ron came closer to her, watching the curiosity mingled with terror in Bellatrix's eyes with relish. He raised his wand, and, for the first and last time, used an unforgivable curse. Bellatrix writhed and screamed while she was tortured, and everyone watched as if they were under a spell. Her eyes were pleading with Ron to stop, but he knew that if the roles were reversed she wouldn't do the same for him. And she hadn't done the same for Hermione. So he just spoke the name over and over again, until finally he couldn't take the screams anymore._

_"Sectumsempra," Ron said quietly. And he knew that with the combination of torture and blood loss, she would die. He had killed her. And he didn't even care. He made sure she had taken her last breath before he rushed to Hermione's side and apparated her the hell out of Malfoy manor. When they got there, he covered her face in kisses and held her against him, determined on waiting, on not moving her an inch until she woke up. He watched as Harry, Luna, Ollivander, Dean, Griphook, and Dobby got back, all perfectly okay. Dobby quickly went inside to tell Bill and Fleur what had happened, and the others slowly followed suit. Harry was the last to go. Ron just stayed there, rocking the woman in his arms back and forth, waiting until she woke up. She finally came to an hour later, her eyes opening and showing nothing but horror. As soon as she saw Ron they softened, but that didn't stop her from saying,_

_"Bellatrix!"_

_Ron shook his head and placed a finger on her lips._

_"Shhhh. You don't have to worry about that anymore."_

_"Why?" Hermione asked, her voice cracking._

_"She's dead," Ron whispered. Hermione's eyes widened._

_"H-how do you know?"_

_He lowered his eyes, willing himself to be ashamed but unable to do it._

_"I killed her." Hermione was speechless, just staring at Ron. His throat felt thick, and he swallowed hard. "You'd been tortured, Hermione. You were half dead, and I was going crazy, okay? You have to understand that, have to realize how hard it was to hear you scream and see her with that knife. I couldn't think, or speak. The only coherent thought I had was to hurt her. And then I wanted to kill her. So I did."_

_Hermione gazed up at him with a confused expression on her face._

_"You... you've used an unforgivable curse?" she asked. She hadn't thought Ron was skilled enough to do such a thing, but her exhausted brain guessed that it was more based on anger then skill._

_"Crucio," Ron whispered._

_Hermione shivered at the name of the spell, but it took no effect, as Ron's wand wasn't raised, and he hadn't meant to cast it._

_"And avada kedavra?"_

_Ron shook his head._

_"No. I used sectumsempra. The effect the torture had on her plus the blood loss killed her."_

_"But we don't know for sure," Hermione said in a hushed voice, and Ron shook his head._

_"I'm positive," He paused, then said, "Do you hate me?"_

_Hermione frowned. Then she slowly shook her head._

_"No."_

_Ron looked shocked._

_"But I just killed someone."_

_Hermione hesitated before saying,_

_"It's true that I'll never be able to look at you the same way again. But in my mind, Bellatrix wasn't someone. I mean, she's a death eater and she tortured Neville's parents and-"_

_"Tortured you," Ron said, and Hermione nodded. "I wish it had been me."_

_Hermione shook her head._

_"No. I am so, so glad that it wasn't you. I don't know what I would have done."_

_Ron looked at her grimly._

_"Hermione, I murdered Bellatrix. I'm sure you would have handled it better."_

_"Ron, it needed to be done. She needed to be killed. Am I thrilled that it was you? No. Do I hate you for it? I can't say I do. Besides, when this is all over, I don't think anyone's going to want to cart you off to Azkaban for killing Bellatrix Lestrange."_

_Hermione was starting to regain her strength, so the point of arguing became moot. Instead, Ron kissed the top of her head and said,_

_"Okay."_

_He wasn't sure what else he was supposed to say. Should he tell her what Luna had told him? Should he tell her that the whole time she'd been screaming he'd had flashes of the future they could have together? That he saw her in a white dress, then with a huge belly, then holding a small, squirmy, redheaded baby? Should he tell her that he'd seen flashes of her teaching that little boy how to read, and watching Ron teach him how to play Quidditch? That he'd seen a small yellow cottage, overgrown with beautiful flowers, in the middle of a sunny, colorful field? And he'd seen them old and gray haired, still in that house, still friends with Harry, and still in love._

_No. For now, that was his secret._

_"_Ron?" a voice whispered, and Ron moaned and turned over in his sleep. He thought he recognized the voice, but he didn't want to work too hard to figure out who it was, as he had no intention of waking up. The dream was too good. He was happy there. He was cooler there too. Lets face it. He'd killed Bellatrix Lestrange. That was awesome.__

_"_Ron, please wake up," Hermione whispered. Oh, look at that. He'd figured it out without trying. Well, that was good. But he wasn't waking up for anything. So he shook his head and turned over. "Please? I sneaked back down here so I could talk to you, and I don't want to get in trouble with Madam Pomfery."__

'It would do you good to get in trouble, Hermione,' Ron thought to himself, but he didn't say it.__

_"_Okay," Hermione said softly, and Ron felt her warm hand brushing some hair away from his forehead. "I'll wait. I'll wait for you to wake up like you did for me."__

He wasn't sure what she meant, but he didn't bother to wake up to find out. He fell back into his dream, all thoughts of the real Hermione driven completely from his mind. He saw Voldemort pacing back and forth, grinning widely. And then he saw Voldemort's slit eyes narrow as he said those dreaded words. __

_"The boy who lived is dead."_


	20. Chapter 20

"_The boy who lived is dead."_

_Hermione let out the tiniest of gasps and stared in the direction of Voldemort, looking at the limp figure just lying there in his arms. She glanced back at Ron and took in the horror on his face. Ron, her savior. Ron, the boy who had literally killed someone for her. His expression made this whole thing ten times worse. And then, a glance over at Ginny's devastated face, trying so hard to be strong. Well, Hermione couldn't be strong. It wasn't in her genes, or something. She let out a wail and felt a rush in her head as she fell backwards, into Ron's waiting arms. As soon as she felt him underneath her, she turned around and slipped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. She hadn't thought that grief could be this immediate. She'd always thought that it took a while to soak in. But this, this was instant. Something more then sadness seeped into her bones as he stroked her hair. There was also fear. The boy who lived was dead... who was going to live for them, fight for them? Hermione suddenly knew who would try. It would be Ron. And she wouldn't let him. She had half a mind, right at that moment, to grab his hand and apparate away, get him away from the battle scene. They could run so fast, grow old together alone. They'd go so far away, to a place so secluded, that whether or not Lord Voldemort ruled the world wouldn't matter. And they could be happy, right? They didn't need to have children, or anything. Sure, Hermione had always cherished the idea, but the thought of bringing a baby into this world was inconceivable. The thought of creating someone with the man that Hermione loved and having the child suffer through a terrible life seemed almost sinister, like she'd be performing an act of evil just by having a baby._

_No. Of course they couldn't run. One earful of the moans and weeps going on around Hermione and Ron showed them both that they were in it with everyone else in the wizarding world. This wasn't just about them, or even Harry. This was about their friends, families, the people they loved. Hermione was sure that if they didn't at least try to fight it out, her parents would get hurt, too. And if they won, wouldn't it be amazing? But if they lost... she and Ron would be the first to be tortured and killed. At least they'd die together. That was all that mattered, wasn't it? Dying at the same time as Ron seemed like a truly romantic way to go, Hermione thought- although if she could help it, she'd make sure he didn't go with her at all. However, if they lost this battle, it would be inevitable._

_She heard a simultaneous roar as everyone geared up for the fight again. Ron pulled Hermione off of him, gave her one last kiss, and headed into the battle. She gazed after him for a second, dazed, but quickly ran after him, taking his hand once she'd reached him. Ron looked down, and from the look on his face, Hermione could tell that he was about to tell her to go home, that she couldn't come. She watched for a few moments as everyone ran past them, and a thousand little emotions flitted across Ron's face. Finally, he reached down, smoothed a bit of soot off of her cheek, and said,_

_"Be safe."_

_Hermione nodded._

_"Same to you."_

_Ron gave her a little half grin before kissing her on the nose and throwing himself into the battle. Hermione followed suit, watching his back. Wherever he went, she went. She supposed, in the back of her mind, that they should eventually work their way over to Voldemort. But for now, they were concentrating on killing every death eater they could and saving each other. Ron watched her back, deflecting any spells she didn't see coming. And she did the same for him. It seemed as though each was more concerned with each other's safety then their own. And that was dangerous. But for a while it seemed as though they were invincible. Only they weren't. Not even close._

_"WEASLEY!" Rodolphus Lestrange yelled through the crowd, and Ron turned around to see him working his way over to him. Ron, throwing a protective glance towards Hermione, shouted,_

_"What?"_

_"You killed my wife!" Rodolphus roared._

_"Yeah, I know I did. Come for the couple's special, have you? Would you rather I do it quick, or slow and drawn out, like hers was?"_

_Ron was bating Lestrange, he knew that. But all he could think was to keep Lestrange going, and get him so angry Ron would be able to catch him off guard._

_"No. You see, Weasley, I don't work like that. I'm going to show you exactly how she was feeling at the time she died, and I hope it hurts even more on a weak little blood-traitor like you."_

_Ron's brain worked fast. He saw Hermione out of the corner of his eye. She hadn't noticed what was going on yet, she was too busy fighting. Someone had to do something, fast, or else Hermione would turn around and come to his defense. And if she did that, Lestrange would realize who she was, and what she meant to Ron, and use her. That wasn't an option._

_"Alright. Let's see it, then. Let's see how much it hurts," he said, swallowing._

_He didn't mean to scream. He really didn't. But he hadn't really expected it to hurt so damn bad._

_"_Ron?" Hermione's voice whispered. "Oh, no. Please stop! You're going to fall out of bed."__

Real-life Ron realized he was shaking and thrashing about while he was sleeping. He wanted to say something sarcastic like 'Wouldn't you be?' but he couldn't seem to do it. He was too locked in sleep. And he wanted to wake up so, so badly.__

_"RON!" Hermione whipped around, having just killed, or at least paralyzed, the death eater she had been battling. At the sight of him, her eyes widened, and her hands flew to her mouth. She worked her way through the crowd, trying to reach him, screaming bloody murder. "RON!"_

_"NO!" Ron yelled, throwing a spell in her direction. A shocked Hermione was thrown back, falling into the crowd. She had no idea what to make of what was happening. As she slammed into people, they turned to look at her, then at Ron. Half the hall seemed to have suddenly stopped battling._

_"What's this?" Lestrange asked suddenly. Ron, on the floor and panting, looking up at him with hatred in his eyes. "Is this your little girlfriend?" Rodolphus asked quietly. He reached his arm into the crowd, somehow procuring Hermione. She came out kicking and biting, and Ron couldn't help but let a flash of pride burst through his system at that._

_"She's not my girlfriend," Ron said coldly, and Hermione knitted her eyebrows together, confused._

_"Oh, really?" Lestrange said lightly. "So, it doesn't bother you, then, when I do this? CRUCIO!"_

_Hermione began screaming and writhing, unable to release herself from his grip._

_"_HERMIONE!" Ron bellowed, thrashing back and forth.__

_"_Ron?" Hermione's confused voice said. Oh, god, he had to wake up from this nightmare. Ron tried to force himself out of the dream, but he felt as though a wall was pressing down on him, dis enabling him from waking up at all. He was in some sort of dream coma, unable to get out of it, unable to do anything but shake and scream.__

_Ron was on his feet in a flash, fury etched across his face._

_"Leave her be!" Ron said, trying to make his voice shake less. "She didn't kill your wife, I did. So leave her alone."_

_"No," Lestrange said, repeating the name of the curse. "I don't think I will."_

_Ron felt his anger and fear heighten as he watched tears stream down Hermione's cheeks._

_"I'm the one you want. You can kill me," Ron said clearly. "Not her."_

_"Weasley- haven't you ever heard the expression an eye for an eye?"_

_"_NO!" Ron roared. "HERMIONE!"__

_"_Ron, I'm right here!" Hermione said in a panicked voice. "Ron, shhhh! It's okay, every thing's okay."__

_"_STOP! HERMIONE!" __

_"_Oh, god, please wake up, Ron! Please, I'm right here, and you're scaring me. Please, please, please wake up!"__

He felt something wet land on him, and tasted the saltiness of Hermione's tear on his lower lip.__

_"STOP!" Ron yelled. "Stop hurting her!"_

_"I'm going to kill her, Weasley, and I'll do it however the hell I want to."_

_"You can kill me twenty times over if you want!" Ron said, not caring that he was pleading. "Twenty times over the most painful way you can think of, and I won't even argue. Just- _please_!"_

_"Do you know, Weasley, that your anguish makes this fifteen times more delicious?"_

_With that statement, he pulled out a knife. Hermione's eyes widened in terror. Ron let out a yell, something so incoherent and panicked even he couldn't understand what he was saying. He ran at Lestrange and Hermione, but as soon as he did so the knife plunged into Hermione's stomach. She screamed as Lestrange dropped her to the floor._

Ron knew he was crying, it wasn't just Hermione, and he didn't care. He shook more and more, screaming louder than he ever had in his life. He felt Hermione's hand reach out and grab his own, then suddenly, it was gone.__

_"_Madam Pomfery! Please, please! HELP!" Hermione's hysterical voice sobbed, and Ron heard the sound of knuckles rapping on a door.__

_Ron caught her just in time. He wrenched the knife out of her stomach, picked up her, and carried her quickly out of the hall._

_"_Miss Granger? What are you doing down here?"__

_"_I sneaked back down to see Ron, but never mind that!"__

_"_What is it?" Madam Pomfery asked.__

_"_I don't understand what's happening!" Hermione said, her voice getting louder as the two witches approached Ron.__

_"Hermione, come on." Ron panted, his finger sliding down her cheek, caressing her face. She opened her eyes as he lay her on the floor, looking up at him. When she spoke, her voice was trembling._

_"This really hurts," she whispered, forgoing all attempts to put on a brave face. Ron let out a choked sound as a tears poured out of his eyes. Never before had he cried this way._

_"Hang on, Hermione!" he begged. "I know you can."_

_"But it hurts," Hermione argued, and Ron shook his head._

_"You have to hold on!" he told her. "Someone's going to be here to help you in a few minutes, okay? And then they'll fix you right up and we'll be able to get you out of here."_

_"No," Hermione said. "It really, really hurts."_

_"HERMIONE!" Ron shouted. "Just FIGHT, for the love of merlin."_

_"I can't. I don't want to," Hermione said honestly. Tears were suddenly flowing freely down her cheeks. "I can't tell you how much this hurts."_

_"No, no! C'mon, Mione, you have so, so much to fight for."_

_Hermione looked at him doubtfully._

_"Really? What?"_

_"Me!" Ron said, his voice cracking. "You have to fight for me. Because if you die, I don't know what's going to happen to me."_

_"You'll get over me, Ron," Hermione said. She attempted to shrug and winced. "You'll never forget me, but you'll get over me."_

_"I won't," Ron whispered. "I'll never be able to."_

_"But you will," Hermione said, smiling grimly._

_"No!" Ron barked. "I won't. Look, if you can't think about that, do it for yourself, okay? Do it for your future."_

_"What future?" Hermione asked._

_"Me," Ron said simply. "I'm your future, aren't I? Didn't I promise you I would marry you someday?"_

_"That was stupid," Hermione said, before letting out a moan. Ron glanced down at her wound, gazing at it helplessly, utterly and completely unsure what to do about it, how to keep Hermione going._

_"It wasn't stupid," he said fiercely. "Why the hell could you say that?"_

_"Because it was an empty promise," Hermione replied. "We both knew it might not be able to happen."_

_"I meant it," Ron said forcefully._

_"I did too," Hermione told him. "But I knew it might not happen. I'm being realistic, Ron."_

_He heard her voice fading as she started to become weaker, so he lifted her head into his lap and stroked her hair._

_"In just a few more minutes, Hermione, someone is going to come and fix you, alright? And then there will be a million things that we'll get to do together that we haven't done yet."_

_"What?" Hermione asked him, her eyes staring at him with longing. Set on distracting her from her apparent determination to die, Ron said, quickly,_

_"We've never made love before. We never got to do that."_

_Hermione gave him a small smile._

_"It was definitely on my bucket list. Unfortunate, isn't it? I mean, I only had eighteen years and nine months to get everything on my bucket list done."_

_"No, Hermione, because you're going to live! And then we'll do everything on your bucket list, okay?"_

_She just looked at him._

_"Yeah, you'll live," Ron continued, his voice getting stronger. "And when you live, we're going to get married, and we're going to Greece on our Honeymoon, because you've always wanted to go there, right?"_

_Once again, she didn't respond, just looked up at him with wide eyes._

_"We're going to come home from our honeymoon and we're going to laugh every single time anyone calls you Hermione Weasley, because it's just so surreal. And we're going to live in this little cottage in the middle of nowhere, and every night when we come home from work we'll sit at the kitchen table and talk about our days together. And you'll get to give me advice about all my auror cases, and I'll get to pretend I care every time you start talking about all the good you're doing for the house elves."_

_"You still won't care, even if we're married?"_

_Ron shook his head._

_"Not really. But I will be so, so proud of you. Whatever you do, Hermione."_

_"What else?" Hermione whispered._

_"Well, we're going to have three kids. Two girls and one boy," Ron told her. "The girls will come first, because I think you like them better, although you'd never admit it."_

_"No I don't!" Hermione argued, a slight smile on her face. Ron's eyes flickered down to her wound, and he surreptitiously placed his hand over it, hoping to stop the bleeding._

_"You do."_

_"Okay, maybe a little," Hermione admitted. She paused before saying, "Ron, what do they look like?"_

_Ron grinned._

_"They're really cute. One of them has my hair's texture and your hair color, and the other one has ginger bushy hair."_

_"That's unfortunate," Hermione said weakly._

_"Are you kidding? We love it," Ron said. "It looks great on her. And, of course, she's a super genius like you are."_

_"Of course," Hermione nodded. A tear slipped down her cheek from the pain, but her expression wasn't letting anything on._

_"We'll go on family trips every year, and we'll have weekly Quidditch matches with all of our family-"_

_"What are their names?" Hermione interrupted. Ron searched his brain for any name he could think of._

_"One of them is named Jean, after you," he said, thinking fast. "And the other one is Rose. The last one will be... Harry. Because that starts with an H, and so we can have an R and an H, isn't that cool?"_

_Hermione tensed. Apparently, she wasn't ready to talk about their dead best friend. Something in her face changed, and suddenly she shook her head._

_"I need to stop fighting, Ron," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."_

_"No! Hermione!"_

_"_Please don't die, no!" Ron whimpered, and he heard Hermione let out a sob next to him. Ron felt her hand slip around his, and he heard Madam Pomfery say,__

_"_It's the combination of his dream potion and the sleeping drought we gave him. He can't wake up, so he's half conscious and half asleep. He's been taking the dream potion so long, he has some left over in his system, making him keep on having the dreams, even though it's been nearly twenty-four hours since his last intake."__

_"_It's okay, Ron," Hermione breathed in his ear. "No one's dying, alright?"__

_"_Hermione!" __

_"You'll finish the book, won't you?" Hermione pleaded. He stared down at her._

_"What?"_

_"The book. Promise me you'll finish it."_

_Tears filled his eyes._

_"I promise."_

_"I love you, Ron," Hermione whispered, touching his cheek with her hand. "I love you, so, so much."_

_"I love you too," Ron said, knowing that he was fighting a loosing battle. He pressed his face onto her neck and let his tears flow onto her body, as if hoping they'd heal her. They didn't._

_Hermione reached up, around her neck, and unfastened the silver heart chain that lay there. She handed it to Ron._

_"It was always, you, okay?" Hermione told him. "Ever since the day I met you, and I thought that no one else in the world had ever looked so gorgeous with dirt on their nose."_

_Ron laughed weakly into her neck. She didn't even smell like herself, she was so covered in blood and soot, and it came to Ron that he would never smell the scent that was Hermione Granger ever again._

_"I'm so in love with you," Ron croaked. "I don't know how I'm ever going to get over being so in love with you."_

_"There's this terrible part of me that hopes you won't."_

_"We're in agreement, then."_

_"No, Ron-"_

_"Remember the time I burped up slugs for you?"_

_Hermione smiled._

_"Remember the time you got knocked out by a chess piece?"_

_"Remember the time you turned into a cat?"_

_"Remember the time you faced your fear of spiders for me?"_

_"Remember the time you were petrified?"_

_"Remember the time you thought my cat ate your rat?"_

_"Remember the time you held my hand in Care of Magical Creatures?"_

_"Remember the time I hugged you after Buckbeak died?"_

_"Remember when I asked you to the Yule Ball?"_

_"Remember our first kiss?"_

_"Remember that first Valentine's Day?"_

_"Remember the second one?"_

_"Remember when I almost left you?"_

_Hermione raised her eyebrow._

_"Remember when you came back?"_

_"Remember when I told you I loved you over and over and over and over and over again?"_

_"Remember when I said it right back at you?"_

_Ron laughed weakly._

_"I remember."_

_"Me too."_

_It happened so slowly, Ron didn't notice it at first. But one second, she was there, and the next time he checked, she was gone. He let out a hysterical yell, crying loud, choked sounds, shaking as he held the body of the girl he loved in his arms. He felt someone's arms slip around him, Ginny's, he thought, then another pair, his mum's, and suddenly Ron realized that his whole family was holding him, crying with him. He didn't bother to be embarrassed, didn't bother to feel self conscious about his weeping. Hermione didn't deserve that. He sat there for a long time, protected by all the Weasleys, and when he finally stood up, he hadn't finished crying yet. It was Lestrange's voice that got him up. He grabbed the knife that lay at Hermione's side and sprinted into the hall, tears still pouring down his cheeks. Lestrange laughed as Ron chased after him, running hard. But Ron's anger was more than a match for his skill. With a roar, he spent the knife that had killed Hermione straight into Lestrange's heart. The look on Rodolphus' face was absolutely priceless, better then anything Ron could have imagined. He strode over to Lestrange, his face contorted into the most burning hatred he'd ever felt in his life, tears still streaming down his cheeks._

_"Thought you might want that back," Ron said coldly, before aiming a kick at Hermione's murderer. And then he walked away, out of the hall, and back to Hermione's body, refusing to let it go. He missed Harry telling everyone that he wasn't, in fact, dead. He missed the killing of Voldemort. He missed all of the celebrations. In fact, it might be fair to say that Ronald Weasley missed the rest of his life. All because of Hermione._

He woke up very slowly, feeling weak and sad and completely horror struck.__

_"_Oh, Ron," Hermione said weakly, collapsing into the chair next to him. "Thank god. Oh, thank god."__

He looked up at her faintly, took in her emotion filled face, took in the fact that one of her hands was on his forehead, one clutching his own hand tightly. Madam Pomphery was nowhere to be seen.__

_"_What happened?" Hermione asked, tears springing back into her eyes. "I've never been more scared in my life."__

Ron shook his head.__

_"_I can't tell you."__

_"_Can't or won't?"__

_"_Won't," Ron amended. "Believe me, Hermione, you don't want to know. Just... do me a favor. Stop taking those dream potions. You're a few nights behind me, and I don't want you to see what I saw."__

Hermione looked surprised.__

_"_Is that really-?"__

_"_Yes, it's necessary. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be asking."__

Hermione nodded, white-faced. For a few moments, they didn't speak. Then Hermione said,__

_"_Ron, I found out what you did for me."__

Ron glanced up at her, startled.__

_"_What do you mean?"__

_"_You took care of me that night. It wasn't Harry."__

Ron blushed.__

_"_Oh, yeah. Right."__

_"_And this whole poisoning thing... well, Ron, it's all made me think. I feel awful about the way I've treated you this year. You are my best friend, the best person in my life. Honestly, I'd be lost without you."__

Ron frowned.__

_"_What are you trying to say?"__

_"_I'm saying I'm sorry about the way that I've treated you. And I want to be friends again, in spite of the whole Lavender thing. Because, in the whole grand scheme of things, what does it really matter?"__

_"_It doesn't matter," Ron said quietly, staring at his hands. "Not much, anyway."__

_"_There's something else," Hermione said slowly, and Ron glanced back up at her. "Remember that fight we had earlier in the year?"__

Ron nodded. There was no doubt as to which fight she was talking about.__

_"_And that note?"__

He nodded again.__

_"_It meant... it meant... it meant that I love you too. I didn't mean it when I said I wasn't."__

Ron stared at her, a slow grin starting to etch onto his face. Encouraged, and, it had to be said, still feeling highly emotional from the day's events, Hermione leaned down, situating her lips near Ron's. Just when she was about to kiss him, he placed a finger on her lips and pushed her back. Hermione looked at him awkwardly, a confused expression gracing her features.__

_"_Not to sound cliché or anything," Ron said, feigning casualness, "But I've waited to hear you say that for a really long time."__

_"_You should have said it first," Hermione pointed out.__

_"_I did! Sort of."__

There was a pause.__

_"_If you've waited a long time to hear me say that, you must have wanted it. Which begs the question... why won't you kiss me?"__

_"_Well," Ron said, "For starters- although, believe me, this isn't really a huge factor- I'm still dating Lavender. Or whatever you want to call it... dating might be generous."__

_"_Right," Hermione said, nodding slowly and staring down at her hands. "Right."__

_"_Second, though," Ron said, and suddenly, his tone dropped. "Hermione, I don't want to kiss you, or date you, or tell you I love you again until this war is over, alright?"__

Hermione looked up, startled.__

_"_But-?"__

Ron shook his head, and Hermione bit her lip.__

_"_Does it have to do with the dream?" Hermione asked, and Ron nodded in response. "Ron, maybe I should-"__

_"_No!" Ron said fiercely. "You shouldn't."__

Hermione looked taken aback, but she nodded.__

_"_Okay," she said simply.__

_"_I'll argue your grade for you," Ron said softly, and Hermione let out a short laugh.__

_"_God. All that, and I wasn't even considering how this might effect my grade. What you do to me, Ron Weasley."__

_"_Ditto," Ron sighed.__

_"_Miss Granger? It's time to go, if you please. Mr. Weasley needs his rest."__

_"_I can't sleep again," Ron said instantly. __

_"_Don't worry, I got the potion out of your system," Madam Pomfery said bracingly. "You won't dream at all. I'll give you a dreamless sleep potion to ensure it, if you need."__

Ron nodded, and a second later Madam Pomfery had bustled over to his bed and handed him the potion. Hermione watched as he drank it, but the school nurse gave her a pointed look. Hermione kissed Ron on the forehead, whispered,__

_"_Bye, Ron."__

And then she left, closing the door behind her, and simultaneously closing every opportunity to continue the conversation and continue the chance that they could get together. Luckily, a little more than a year later, when she kissed Ron for the first time in the heat of the final battle, that mattered just a little bit less. 


	21. Chapter 21

"Ron! Get your lazy arse out of bed!" Hermione said, throwing a pillow at him. Ron moaned and threw it back at her. It hit the floor, and from the laugh that Hermione gave a second after the thump, Ron guessed that it had been nowhere near its mark. "UP!" Hermione pleaded. "C'mon, Ron."__

_"_No," Ron replied stubbornly. Annoyed, Hermione made the choice to use the best weapon she had.__

_"_I'm in a towel," she said, a bit of a smirk in her voice.__

_"_Meh," Ron said. But the temptation was too great, so he peaked one eye open, then another, frowning at the superior, snobbish look on Hermione's face.__

_"_Okay. I'm off to take a shower," Hermione told him. "You can be late if you want, see if I care."__

But she'd gotten Ron at the word_ shower_. He'd leaped out of bed and bolted towards the bathroom, then hopped into the jet of warm water.__

_"_Ron!" Hermione cried, indignant. __

_"_Yes?" Ron said, peaking his face out of the glass shower door.__

_"_I didn't say you were supposed to be taking a shower, I said I was!"__

_"_I know," Ron told her, winking impishly, and Hermione rolled her eyes while a smile spread across her face.__

_"_So you jumped into my shower because...?"__

_"_Well," Ron said, choosing his words carefully, "I think I'll be in here a while, and you apparently need a shower, so maybe you should join me."__

_"_Wasn't last night enough?"__

_"_Never, love."__

Hermione stared at him for ten seconds flat before moaning and saying,__

_"_You're incorrigible!"__

Ron grinned.__

_"_Isn't that why you love me?"__

_"_Oh, yes. Because your endless pursuing of me at Hogwarts really showed character."__

Ron moved to shut the door.__

_"_Well, I guess I'll just be showering by myself. Have fun going out in public with your hair like _that_."__

Hermione gazed at him with a stricken look on her face as the door slid shut.__

_"_Fine!" she shouted, one second before it closed. "Fine! You win this time!" she said, releasing the towel and stepping into the warm shower with him.__

_"_I know I do."__

_"_But I hate you," Hermione added sourly, kissing him quickly before reaching for the shampoo.__

_"_Good morning to you too, honey."__

***__

_"_Hurry, hurry!" Hermione called in a panicked voice. Ron poked his head out of the kitchen and waved his butter knife threateningly at her.__

_"_We have three minutes until scheduled departure time," he told her, his eyes flicking toward the white board that Hermione updated every night to show Ron the exact time she wanted them to leave for the Ministry the next morning, depending on how much work they had to do or what time their meetings or appointments were. It was anal, controlling, and so Hermione that Ron had just gotten used to it and learned to love it. "And seeing as you insist on having that bloody board, I am _already _hurrying."__

Okay, well, maybe not _love _it. But definitely deal with it.__

_"_Well, now you have one and a half minutes, so go faster."__

Ron finished buttering his toast with a final flourish of his knife, then threw the piece of silverware into the sink and tromped over to the fireplace. Hermione's eyes were darting uncertainly between the white board and the sink, not sure which thing was more important to her. Finally, Ron made the choice for her by flicking his wand and making the knife vanish. Her face relaxing considerably, Hermione took the floo pot from him and shouted,__

_"_Ministry of Magic!"__

She spun out of the fireplace and Ron smiled as her bushy hair flailed while she spun. As he helped himself to some powder, he remembered her first day of work, when she'd straightened her hair. She hadn't been the same at all. In fact, she seemed more like Riddle-Hermione than Real-Hermione. And he definitely hadn't married Riddle-Hermione. That would have been bad, especially considering the fact that she'd been in love with Harry. Also, if Real-Hermione had kissed Harry the way Riddle-Hermione had, Ron didn't think he would have been able to marry her anyways. The image of the two of them was already branded into his mind either way, but if Real-Hermione had kissed Real-Harry, Ron was sure that he'd have the image in his head whenever he was snogging her and that did not make for a healthy marriage. Of course, Hermione and he didn't usually talk about the past. Though Ron would never admit it to anyone (much less his wife) he was now kind of grateful for Viktor Krum. Without Krum to interrupt his and Hermione's relationship, she'd be dead. Because Ron hadn't been so clouded with love during Hermione's torture incident he hadn't been stupid, and therefor he had been able to save Hermione without getting her killed because of his actions. It had been okay in the end. His bloody _mum _had killed Bellatrix. Rather fitting, if Ron did say so himself. He still loathed Viktor Krum, however. Hermione found this rather hilarious, seeing as, according to her, she had much more of a reason to be jealous about Lavender. Ron agreed with her, but when they'd had the discussion had refused to admit it. The next night Hermione had started moaning Viktor's name in her 'sleep', just to get a rise out of Ron. Needless to say, it worked, but when Ron had refused to hug or kiss her for a week, Hermione had instantly regretted her actions.__

Alright, fine. It was just two days. He did have needs, and with a wife so willing to comply, who was he to refuse the both of them? But she did regret it. A little. Oh fine, not at all.__

By the time Ron got to the Ministry, Hermione was already talking to a co-worker about the newest laws she was trying to put in for House-Elves. Spotting Ron hurling out of the fireplace, she bade the person goodbye and headed over to her husband. She kissed him quickly before saying,__

_"_Don't forget about tonight!"__

Ron frowned at her.__

_"_What's tonight?" he asked.__

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly someone called out, "Mrs. Weasley!" and Hermione and Ron turned around to see Hermione's boss waving her over to him. Hermione turned back to Ron, gave him an apologetic look, and pecked him on the lips once more before saying, __

_"_I have to go. Have a good day, sweetheart."__

Ron watched her hurry up to her boss and begin a conversation that entailed a lot of nodding. The two approached the lifts, and Ron looked around as the doors slid shut. Immediately, his eyes found Harry. Ron hurried over to his friend and nodded at him. Harry nodded back.__

_"_Morning," he said as they got to the elevator. He yawned as Ron echoed the greeting.__

_"_What's up with you?" he asked, seeing Harry's weary facial expression.__

_"_Gin and the baby," Harry answered, suppressing another yawn. "Kept me awake last night. James has the biggest damn lungs I have ever had the misfortune to-"__

_"_Yes, I've heard this before," Ron said, brushing it aside. At first he'd been sympathetic, but by now he was impatient with Harry's frequent rants about the loudness of his child. Ron himself couldn't wait to have those problems. It wasn't that Harry resented James in any way, he had just never known a baby in such a young stage as James. Teddy had been taken care of Andromeda full time, and Harry had never had to worry about it or experience it. Which was why Harry had been completely caught off guard when his child had arrived into the world. He'd been shocked by things most people thought was a given.__

_"_You and Hermione still having trouble conceiving?" Harry asked delicately, and Ron gave a curt nod before saying,__

_"_We'll get there."__

_"_Of course you will," Harry said easily. "Without a doubt."__

There was silence on the lift, each man lost in his own thoughts, until the doors opened and they stepped out into the Auror Offices. Ron and Harry strode into the conference room and sat down, ignoring the light lull of conversation in favor of their own thoughts. That was the thing about them. They never had to be in conversation to enjoy each other's company. Sometimes it was preferable that they weren't. The chat dulled, however, when their boss strode into the room and up to the white board at the forefront of it.__

_"_Anyone know the day?" he asked, marker poised to write.__

_"_The seventeenth," Harry yawned. Ron turned towards him, startled.__

_"_What?"__

_"_April seventeenth," Harry repeated. Ron's eyes widened.__

_"_I thought that was tomorrow!"__

Harry shrugged, and Ron hastily stood up.__

_"_I'm sorry sir, I'm feeling a bit nauseous. I think I need to take the day off."__

His boss frowned at him, but perhaps Ron looked a bit more pale than usual, as (after a few more seconds of scrutinizing his employee) his boss nodded and let Ron go. Harry watched him pack up and whispered,__

_"_What's wrong?"__

Ron bent down to pick up a paper and muttered,__

_"_Today's our third wedding anniversary."__

Harry's eyes widened.__

_"_You forgot your anniversary?" he whispered.__

_"_I didn't forget!" Ron hissed. "I just thought it was tomorrow. I got my days mixed up!"__

_"_What's the big deal? Didn't those theater tickets you got her have a date on them?"__

_"_Today's Thursday," Ron moaned. "They don't have a Thursday night show- I ordered the Friday tickets."__

_"_You're in such deep shit," Harry winced. "What're you going to do?"__

_"_Improvise," Ron told him quietly.__

Harry swallowed hard. Ron Weasley... improvisation? Romance? This could not end well.__

***__

The best plan Ron could think of was to set up a table outside and have his mum make a romantic dinner. Although he felt that Hermione deserved better (after all, it was his fault they had no fancy plans on their anniversary) it was the best he could do on such short notice. All the good restaurants had been booked for weeks, and it wasn't like they could have their anniversary dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. Quickly, Ron stepped onto the lift and pressed the up button. He got off a few floors later and hurried into the waiting room outside of Hermione's office, where her secretary was making copies of notes using a spell. As Ron entered, the phone rang, and he watched as the secretary picked up and said,__

_"_Hermione Weasley's office."__

Resisting all temptation to start giggling like a teenager at that sentence, Ron listened as Hermione's secretary conversed with a House-Elf expert from China. Fifteen minutes later, she got off the phone, looked up at him and said,__

_"_Can I help you?"__

_"_Of course you can. I've been standing here for fifteen minutes, haven't I?" Ron said, irked. Hermione's secretary just looked at him. "I need to see Hermione," Ron said.__

_"_That's not possible. She's busy."__

_"_I'm her bloody husband!" Ron argued heatedly.__

_"_She's busy," the secretary repeated.__

_"_It's our anniversary," Ron probed.__

_"_Yet that just does not change the fact that Mrs. Weasley is busy."__

Unable to take it any longer, Ron hit his finger against the intercom button.__

_"_Yes?" came Hermione's voice.__

_"_Your bloody secretary won't let me in, Hermione."__

There was a pause. Then,__

_"_Well... why not?"__

_"_I don't know!" Ron yelled at the same time as the secretary said,__

_"_You told me not to let anyone disturb you, Mrs. Weasley."__

_"_I meant clients. My husband doesn't count in that. Always let him in, please. Unless I'm with a client."__

Feeling very smug, Ron crossed the room and opened the door. Hermione stood up to greet him, looking greatly amused.__

_"_Really, Hermione?" __

_"_Sorry about that," she smiled, kissing him. "So what's up?"__

_"_Do we have any tablecloths? Like, not really nice ones, the kind you might use on... an outdoor picnic table, for example."__

Hermione stared at him blankly before saying,__

_"_You waited for fifteen minutes outside my office and had a minor showdown with my secretary to ask me about a tablecloth?"__

_"_Er- yes?" Ron said, now realizing how stupid that sounded.__

_"_You know it would have been faster just to owl me."__

Ron put on a cheeky grin.__

_"_I wanted to see your gorgeous face."__

Hermione rolled her eyes.__

_"_I'm so flattered."__

_"_You should be," he said, moving closer.__

_"_Why's that?" Hermione asked quietly, eyes on his lips.__

_"_Because there's only one woman on earth I get to think is gorgeous, and luckily for you that woman is standing right in front of me."__

_"_Luckily for me?" she laughed, eyes going up to him. "This was all luck?"__

_"_No," he amended, leaning."I think we actually have to thank a troll."__

_"_Okay," Hermione murmured as Ron went for her lips. "Thank you, troll."__

It took Ron almost no time to make her woozy from his kisses, and- once he had succeeded in doing so- he pulled away, kissed her nose, and said, "So. Tablecloth."__

_"_Right," Hermione said, sitting down on the couch in her office. "They're in the attic. In the box that is aptly labeled_ Tablecloths_." __

_"_Thanks, Hermione," Ron said, kissing her one more time. "Mind if I use your fireplace?"__

_"_No, go ahead," she told him. Ron headed over, said his destination as quietly as he could, then found himself spinning until he saw the living room. Quickly, he stepped out, then called out his mum's name. She ambled into the room, and her face broke out into a smile upon seeing her son.__

_"_Ronnie! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"__

_"_I faked illness."__

Her smile faded.__

_"_I see now that I've raised you well."__

_"_Hey, I got Hermione, didn't I?"__

_"_True enough. Anyways, why would you call in sick?"__

_"_Today's my anniversary. Apparently." __

_"_I thought it was tomorrow," Mrs. Weasley said, frowning.__

_"_Me too," Ron admitted. He scratched his head once before continuing. "Well... the tickets I have are for tomorrow, so I was wondering if you could make Hermione's favorite meal?"__

_"_Why can't you make it, Ronnie?"__

Ron sighed. "First of all, I can't cook to save my life. Second, I thought we agreed that you'd stop calling me Ronnie when I got married."__

_"_Sorry, dear. I forget. Of course I'll cook for you! It'll be my gift you this year."__

_"_Thanks, mum," Ron said, letting out a sigh of relief. He hurried back to the fireplace and grabbed some floo powder. "Bring it over around five," he told her before stepping into the fireplace and shouting out his and Hermione's address. He spun out as soon as he saw their couch, then tripped over Crookshanks as he came out of the fireplace. Swearing loudly, Ron disentangled himself from the hissing cat, but a few seconds later Crookshanks started rubbing himself against Ron's leg.__

_"_Oh, now you fancy a cuddle, do you?" Ron said angrily. "How about last night when Hermione was working late and _I _wanted to cuddle? I was so carefree then!" Crookshanks purred, but Ron shook his head. "Not now, Crookshanks. I'm busy."__

He bolted for the stairs to the attic, shutting the door behind him so that the damn ginger cat couldn't follow. The attic was dark, and Ron quickly lit his wand, hoping that it would brighten the room. It did, but not by much. All he knew now was that he had a big shadow and the attic was way bigger than he had initially thought. Cursing himself for getting married, Ron moved deeper into the attic and began the tedious task of finding the box with the tablecloth. After about an hour of searching, he spotted it in a rafter, tucked tightly between a group of boxes.__

_"_Accio box!" Ron said, raising his wand and directing it towards the box. It squirmed, but didn't soar towards him. Sighing about the horror that was his life, Ron moved closer to the box and attempted to get it. The box was too high, so he grabbed another one and went to stand on it. He reached out, trying to grab the box. Suddenly, the one he was standing on caved in and he fell over, landing in yet another box. Trying to breathe deeply and calm his temper, he slowly opened his eyes. His face was pressed against a composition notebook with familiar handwriting.__

_This book is the property of Hermione J Granger. Year: Six. School: Hogwarts. Class: Potions._

His eyes widened as he realized what it was. Excitement filling him up, Ron lifted up the notebook and saw what was underneath.__

_This book is the property of Roonil Wazlib. Nose out. Year: 6. School: What do you think? Class: Potions._

Laughing at the sight of his 6th year writing, Ron opened the book, looking at the words he had penned more than half a decade ago. Sixteen year old Ron was so frustrated and angry with himself... Ron was much happier now. He would argue that he was happier now than he had ever been in his whole life. It had started a year after the war. He'd finally been able to stop living in fear and guilt, and he'd started to be able to let go just a little. It was also the point in his life where he'd finally gotten used to his relationship with Hermione. Not used to, per se, but at least comfortable. He'd still grinned like an idiot when she introduced him as her boyfriend or he introduced her as his girlfriend. But he was able to tell her that he loved her without blushing and stumbling over his words, and they were both less guarded when it came to snogging. Their relationship seemed to improve with time, and Ron had known even then that it was rare, special, and completely amazing when that happened. He had been nineteen years old and completely aware of the fact that the woman he was snogging was his future wife, even though he didn't have a ring.__

Now that they'd been married for three years, Ron couldn't help hoping that she never stopped getting fits of giggles sometimes when people called her Mrs. Weasley. Of course, when he got the giggles, it was much less respectable. But when Hermione did it, it was downright adorable.__

_Tonight, for the first time since fourth year, I have made my peace with the Yule Ball. I am glad that I didn't take Hermione. I can't believe that she would have died if we started dating at fifteen. I hope to God that the same thing doesn't happen in real life. Hey- funny thing. What happened in the dream was nearly identical to Trelawney's prediction. Wouldn't it be hilarious (not to mention wicked) if McGonagall's thing came true? I wonder if Hermione will snog me during a battle of some sort..._

Holy shit. McGonagall _had _been right. Ron had never connected the dots to that before this moment... his mouth dropped open in surprise. That was nothing short of shocking, really. Shaking his head and grinning broadly, Ron reached down and picked up Hermione's diary. He opened it to a random page and read the top line, which seemed to be a continuation from the last page.__

_I just wish so much that I'd had a different Yule Ball experience. An experience with Ron. It wouldn't even matter if he fell in love with me that night or another night or never at all. Just to have that one night to dance with Ron and look pretty for him... he has totally and completely denied me of any opportunity to do such a thing. Even Bill and Fleur's wedding- I'm not his date, I'm just invited by default. Because I'm the best friend. Harry doesn't even count, he's family. He needed a family and they took him in. If Harry hadn't been an honorary member of the family, I probably wouldn't have even been invited. I'm simply not important enough to Ron. I probably never will be. I'm the bushy haired, nagging, know-it-all. The girl who loves him disguised as his best friend, and that hurts. It hurts to know that he'll never look at me the way I look at him, to know that if Lavender Brown is his type I will never be what or who he wants. And you know what the worst part is? It's the part that I will never, ever have a chance to have a night like the Yule Ball again, where I dress up for him and he only sees me. Unless, of course, we get married. But that's ridiculous. Like that's ever going to happen. I hate the bitch that's going to marry Ron, hate her. Oh merlin, I'd better make this invisible so Slughorn won't be able to see it. Ironically enough, by the time this is visible again because the spell has worn off, I'll either be with Ron or totally and completely over him. Or dying inside because neither has happened. Wow. Here's hoping._

Reading the diary entry, getting lost in the story, Ron almost forgot that Hermione's story did have a happy ending. Looking down at the gold band that never left his finger, Ron recalled the way she'd looked on their wedding day. The white dress, the wide smile, the way she'd only been able to look at him because she couldn't believe that he was her husband. And vise versa. As he pictured this, a bit of his renewed guilt for how he'd treated her in sixth year ebbed away, and he smiled. Now he knew what needed to happen. He knew what he needed to do in order to make it the best anniversary ever. And when he was done, it was going to be kickass.__

***__

It figure, Hermione supposed, that Ron wasn't home. He was probably doing last minute things for their anniversary. It wouldn't have been the first time. She headed over to their bedroom, opened the door, and nearly fell down. A brand new dress, the exact color of the one she'd worn to the yule ball, was lying on the bed. Hermione check the size, which was (to her surprise and pleasure) correct. That was rare. On it lay a note that instructed her to put on the dress and meet 'me' in the garden when she was ready. The note seemed to have been written with great care- for once, Hermione could read her husband's handwriting. She'd gotten used to it over the years, but when Ron wrote like this it made her life much easier. Unable to help herself, Hermione kissed the note as excitement began to wash over her. Quickly heading over to her dressing table, Hermione grabbed a bottle of sleekeazy and began applying huge amounts to her hair. Then she pulled it into the same elegant knot she had on the night of the Yule Ball. After squirting liberal amounts of perfume onto herself, Hermione slipped into the dress. It felt smooth and silky on her skin. She headed over to her closet and dug up an old pair of dark blue high heels. They went well with the light blue fabric of the dress. They went well with the light blue fabric, so Hermione stepped into them and tottered over to the mirror. A few strands had escaped and were framing her face beautifully. Upon redoing her eyeliner, mascara, and eyeshadow, Hermione exited the room and made her way out to the garden.__

Lights were strung up on the trees, white, bright, and beautiful. They cast a glow all around the place that made everything look softer and more romantic. There was a Weird Sisters album playing softly in the background, and a picnic table laden with all of Hermione's favorite foods. Ron, who had been seated when she walked out to the yard, stood up to reveal a pair of navy blue dress robes, around the same color of Hermione's shoes. She laughed lightly.__

_"_Look how coordinated we are!"__

Ron strode over to her and kissed her. He started to pull back, but Hermione wound her arm around his neck and kissed him harder. She pulled back after several minutes, pressed her forehead against his, and smiled breathlessly at him.__

_"_Do you like it?" Ron asked, gesturing around the yard. Hermione nodded and he grinned at her and took her hand. "Hermione Granger, will you go to the ball with me?"__

She blushed like she would have when she was younger and said,__

_"_Of course. But please don't call me that anymore. I'm Hermione Weasley now, remember?" __

_"_No way. We're fifteen for the night."__

Hermione wrinkled her nose.__

_"_I'm not sure you want that. There are some things that I do now that I would not do when I was fifteen."__

_"_Alright, you win," Ron said, surrendering easily. Hermione smiled.__

_"_So how exactly did you do all this?" she asked.__

_"_I have a single romantic bone in my body," Ron replied. "And I think I just utilized the shit out of it tonight." __

_"_Well done," Hermione complimented him.__

_"_Thanks, love."__

They snogged for a bit before Hermione pulled back and said,__

_"_So what's for dinner?" Laughing, Ron picked her up bride-style and carried her over to the table. It was a mark of how strong he'd gotten from being an auror, and of how petite Hermione was. She was easier to carry than most women of her age. This probably had to do with her height, or lack thereof.__

When Ron set Hermione down at her place, she noticed a journal sitting beside her plate. After scanning the writing on the front, she realized what it was.__

_"_Oh my god," she whispered, and then she opened it and began reading delightedly.__

_"_You want to do that aloud, maybe?" Ron said, and Hermione nodded, then began. She read hers aloud and Ron read his aloud, but he hesitated when he reached the end. He'd never told Hermione about what happened at the end of the dream. He'd never wanted to talk about it, relive it, and in doing that he'd also been protecting her.__

_"_Can we read the end another time?" Ron asked quietly. "I don't want to wreck the evening."__

Hermione looked desperately curious, but she nodded all the same, and that was what made Ron break out into a beaming smile and ask if she wanted to dance. She took his hand and they swayed together to the loud, upbeat Weird Sisters music, tremendously out of time with the music due to their soft, slow style of dancing. Both inwardly praised merlin that their single days were over, that they would always have each other to have, to hold, to love, and to cherish. It was in the middle of their dancing, laughing, and kissing that Hermione stepped out of Ron's arms and said,__

_"_I have something for you."__

She ran back into the house as fast as her high heels would allow her and came back to a bemused Ron a few minutes later, holding a box. Her engagement and wedding rings glinted as she swiftly opened the box and held it out to Ron, who looked more bamboozled than ever at the sight of the contents of the box.__

_"_Chocolate Frogs?" he said, and Hermione merely smiled mischievously at him. Ron ripped the bag open, then let out a shocked yell. His own face was blinking up at him, giving himself a sheepish smile.__

_Ronald Weasley is best known for being one-third of the Golden Trio. He is currently a high-rank Auror at the Ministry of Magic, and his married to his childhood sweetheart, Hermione Weasley. Mr. Weasley enjoys Quidditch, wizard rock, and bickering with his wife. He has become a sex symbol for gingers everywhere._

Ron looked up, horror struck, to see Hermione laughing.__

_"_That's not actually what it's going to say," she told him through her laughter. "The part about bickering will be _spending time_. And I just asked them to add the part about the sex symbol for this one." __

_"_Is the other one your card, then?" Ron asked, and Hermione nodded. He ripped it open to see a picture of his wife giving him a small smile, her eyes shining with excitement.__

_Hermione (formerly Granger) Weasley is best know for being the brains of the Golden Trio. She is currently working at the Ministry of Magic in the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures department (S.P.E.W division). Sometimes called 'The Brightest Witch of Her Age', Mrs. Weasley enjoys reading, playing with her half-kneezle (Crookshanks) and spending time with her husband and Hogwarts sweetheart, Ron Weasley. She is looking forward to the birth of her and Mr. Weasley's baby, which will take place in roughly nine months._

_"_That's pretty-" Suddenly, the last statement hit him. "NINE MONTHS?"__

She stared up at him, biting her lip and smiling nervously.__

_"_I'm sort of... pregnant."__

_"_Bloody fuck!" Ron roared, and he lifted her up in his arms and kissed her soundly on the mouth. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"__

_"_So you're happy, then?" Hermione giggled.__

_"_Happy?" Ron bellowed. "I'm... I'm... shit, Hermione. I'm so proud of you."__

_"_Proud of me?" she frowned. "Why are you proud of me me?"__

_"_I don't know," he shrugged, peppering her face with kisses. "I just am. YES! FINALLY!"__

_"_You're gonna be a dad," she whispered. "How does that sound?"__

_"_Bloody brilliant," Ron said fervently. "Wicked. Every phrase in my arsenal."__

_"_Pretty sure you just used them all up, honey."__

He pulled her into a fierce hug.__

_"_How'd you get the chocolate frog cards?"__

The mischievous smile was back on Hermione's face, although Ron couldn't see it.__

_"_I stopped by the factories and gave them a heart wrenchingly romantic story about how it was the anniversary of my marriage to my gorgeous, wonderful, sexy husband and how I wanted to prove to him just how gorgeous, wonderful, and sexy he is."__

_"_And they just let you have them a month early?" Ron asked, amazed. "I mean, they're not coming out until the anniversary of the Final Battle..."__

_"_Well, I had to drop a few names first," Hermione admitted. "Namely my own. And yours."__

_"_You're so amazing," Ron said, admiring his wife. "I'm so glad I married you."__

_"_Same," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "You weren't glad before."__

_"_Well, I'm even... gladder."__

Hermione laughed. She kissed his shoulder, then his neck, then finally his chin, before bringing her lips up to his.__

_"_We'd better get inside. We have work tomorrow."__

Ron, glancing around to see a completely darkened sky, nodded. He looked disappointed. As Hermione walked away, she said,__

_"_So I'm assuming you called my parents and told them we weren't coming?"__

Ron froze. Those had been the plans?__

_"_Er- yeah."__

Hermione smiled at him.__

_"_Good. Wow, if tonight was the night before our anniversary, I can't wait to see what you do tomorrow."__

Shame, annoyance, anger, and frustration washed over Ron as her words registered. Seriously? Their anniversary had been the next day after all. Harry fucking Potter had gotten the date wrong. Ron gulped, thinking fast. When he replied, it was casual, nonchalant.__

_"_I was thinking we could call in sick from work and spend the whole day in bed with you, me, and a half dozen cans of whipped cream."__

Hermione looked back at him, scrutinizing him.__

_"_Will you take me out after?" she asked appraisingly.__

_"_Er- sure," Ron replied, thinking of the theater tickets he had still.__

_"_Alright," Hermione shrugged, to the complete disbelief of her husband.__

_"_Really?" he croaked.__

_"_Sure," Hermione said. "Since you called in sick today, I can just say I got what you got."__

_"_Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" Ron gasped, and Hermione smirked at him. "Seriously, you're acting so... badass." __

_"_Always the tone of surprise," Hermione murmured teasingly.__

She kissed Ron, entangling her hands into his hair, pulling him closer, trying to control her emotions because she felt so happy she thought she could've possibly burst.__

_"_No really," Ron said, pulling back insistently. "You hate cutting work. Why would you do this?"__

_"_Well," Hermione said carefully, "it's sort of because you made a silly mistake and fixed it in the most romantic way possible. It's a little bit because of the diaries, and remembering how lucky I am compared to where I was then. But mainly... it's because I love you."


End file.
